(Stanley workers speak at press conference in their St. Albans union office)
On Thursday, the Vermont Workers’ Center organized a press conference with workers at Stanley Associates in St. Albans who are organizing with the UE and and elected officials to release a public letter to Stanley to respect workers right to organize. The letter (text below), signed by US Senator Bernie Sanders and two dozen other Workers' Rights Board members, elected officials, local business owners and community leaders requests that Stanley not spend tax-dollar money on union-busting consultants and otherwise interfere with workers right to organize at its Vermont facilities employing over 400 Vermonters. Attending the press conference were Franklin State Senator Sara Kittell and State Representatives Kathleen Keenan and Jim Fitzgerald of St. Albans and Michel Consejo of Sheldon Springs, Vermont. Media coverage included WAMC - North Country Public Radio, WCAX News Channel 3 (link to transcript), WPTZ News Channel 5, St. Albans Messenger (read frontpage story here) and Channel 15 Community Public Access in St. Albans.
On December 27th, Stanley workers petitioned for a union election with the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE). See last Friday's lead cover story in the St. Albans Messenger.
Text of Community Letter:
January 3, 2008
Philip Nolan , CEO
Stanley Associates, Inc.
3101 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 700
Arlington, VA 22201
Fax: 802-527-4689, 703-683-0039
Dear Mr. Nolan:
We understand that workers now employed by Stanley Associates, Inc. are organizing and call upon you to respect their right to form a union without interference. We have heard workers concerned with cuts to pay and new management practices are exercising this basic human right to explore collective bargaining. We support them in this endeavor and request that Stanley not engage in anti-union activity or otherwise interfere with this process.
We have heard it reported that Stanley is very proud of being found a good employer by Fortune Magazine. We hope you will now act as a responsible employer and respect your employees’ right to organize. In receiving this latest $225 million government contract, Stanley has the responsibility to tax-payers not to waste any of this money on an anti-union campaign.
We have asked workers to keep us informed about their organizing efforts, and hope they will be able to report that their rights to make this decision have been respected.
Thank you for your attention in this matter.
Sincerely,
Bernie Sanders, US Senator
Ron Allard, Vermont State Representative, St. Albans, Vermont
Rabbi Joshua Chasan, Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, Burlington, Vermont
Michel Consejo, Vermont State Representative, Sheldon Springs, Vermont
Hilary Denault-Reynolds, Owner-Operator Heroes Kingdom Store, St. Albans, Vermont
Joey Donovon, Vermont State Representative, Burlington, Vermont
James Fitzgerald, Vermont State Representative, St. Albans, Vermont
Gary Gilbert, Vermont State Representative, Fairfax, Vermont
Dan Green, Owner-Operator Greenstone Landscaping, St. Albans, Vermont
James Haslam, Vermont Workers’ Center, Director, Burlington, Vermont
Helen Head, Vermont State Representative, South Burlington, Vermont
Donna Howard, Owner Operator Eloquent Page Bookstore, St. Albans, Vermont
Richard Howrigan, Vermont State Representative, Fairfield, Vermont
Kathleen Keenan, Vermont State Representative, St. Albans, Vermont
Sara Kittell, Vermont State Senator, Fairfield, Vermont
Mark Larson, Vermont State Representative, Burlington, Vermont
Virginia Lyons, Vermont State Senator, Williston, Vermont
Mark MacDonald, Vermont State Senator, Williamstown, Vermont
Norman McAllister, Vermont State Representative, Franklin, Vermont
David McWilliams, AFSCME Local 1343, St. Albans, Vermont
Christopher Pearson, Vermont State Representative, Burlington, Vermont
Rebecca Smith, Burlington Education Association, President, Burlington, Vermont
Kristy Spengler, Vermont State Representative, Colchester, Vermont
Rachel Weston, Vermont State Representative, Burlington, Vermont
David Zuckerman, Vermont State Representative, Burlington, Vermont
Community Calls On Stanley To Respect Workers' Rights
180+ Attend February 19th 2007 Vermont Workers Rights Board Hearing
Burlington - No amount of snow could hold back over one hundred and eighty people attending the 2007 Vermont Workers Rights Board (WRB) Hearing on “The Race To The Bottom” at Burlington City Hall. Organized by the Vermont Workers Center and Vermont Livable Wage Campaign, over two dozen people testified from a broad range of different jobs, including local school support staff workers, nurses, teachers, restaurant staff, construction workers and people who work for UVM, Verizon, COTS and other large local employers.
While hearing the many stories of the struggles of people trying to support their families on poverty wages and the impact on losing their jobs to corporate globalization, the emphasis on the evening was on pushing for positive change. The Burlington Livable City Coalition includes a broad range of local unions and community organizations who are committed to truly making Burlington work for everyone. With active campaigns to establish livable wages for all staff and contracted workers at UVM, school support staff workers in Burlington, including paraeducators, cafeteria workers and custodial staff fighting for livable wages, efforts to establish Responsible Contracting construction policies at local public institutions, legislation to increase the Tipped Worker Wage and to protect all workers falling under the Vermont labor law have the right to organize – the fight to reverse the race to the bottom is on. Email info@workerscenter.org to find out how to get involved.
WRB members included Sen. Bernie Sanders, Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss, Rabbi Joshua Chasan, Rev. Roddy O’Neil Cleary from the Burlington Unitarian Universalist Church, Rev. Michael Cronahue, Society of St. Edmundites, State Rep. Mark Larson (D-Burlington), State Rep. Floyd Nease (D-Johnson) , State Rep. Helen Head (D-S. Burlington) , State Rep. Chris Pearson (P-Burlington), State Rep. Jason Lorber (D-Burlington), State Rep. Rachel Weston (D-Burlington), State Rep. Johanna Leddy Donovan (D-Burlington), State Sen. Diane Snelling (R-Chittenden) and Burlington City Councilors Jane Knodell and Tim Ashe.
Media coverage:
Channel 3 - CBS news (with video)
Burlington Free Press
Audio of Vermont Workers' Center TV Show
Vermont workers recount injustices to rights panel
Shay Totten
Vermont Guardian
December 21, 2005
BURLINGTON — A panel of legislative and ecumenical leaders heard testimony from dozens of Vermonters about the challenges they face with low pay, a lack of job security, no health care for their families, and how many employers work against their efforts to form unions.
For many of the 12-member Worker's Rights Board, chaired by U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, the stories are nothing new. Worker after worker testified Dec. 10 under three broad themes: livable wages and good jobs; the right to organize and labor rights; and the right to health care.
The board was comprised of several Democratic lawmakers, one Progressive legislator, a student leader from the University of Vermont, a retiree, and several Burlington area religious leaders.
The panel, whose members were appointed by a coalition of labor organizations, has no strict mandate. In the coming weeks, however, the board will discuss specific actions it could take, or encourage others to take, as a result of the testimony it heard at the hearing, said James Haslam, director of the Vermont Worker's Center, an event sponsor.
The event, on the Trinity Campus of the University of Vermont, was held on International Human Rights Day to link the economic struggle of workers to the broader discussion of human rights, said Brady Fletcher of the Student Labor Action Project at UVM, one of the event sponsors.
"Human rights refers to many things and we don't associate, as we should, the issue of human rights with economic rights," said Sanders in an opening speech to the crowd. "To my mind, if someone cannot find a job that pays them a wage so that they and their family can live in dignity, that is a violation of human rights; if there are people across the street from here who work 40 hours a week but cannot find a doctor or dentist because they cannot buy health insurance, that's a violation of human rights. If people are living in poverty in the richest country in the world, that is a violation of human rights."
Given the location of the event, UVM's administration took the brunt of criticism from participants, many of whom are support and clerical staff members who are attempting to form a union.
"For years, UVM said that while their salaries weren't great, their benefits were," said Jennifer Larsen, a lab technician who has worked at UVM for 16 years. "Then they turned around and said that the benefits we get would bankrupt the university in 10 years, and they then gave us a large cut in our health insurance, and [no] salary increases.
"In the past five years, I have seen a 495 percent increase in premiums and that has not been matched by a salary increase — and in this academic-gone-corporate environment we have no power to speak out," Larsen added.
Two weeks ago, hundreds of students, UVM alumni, faculty, and staff, along with construction workers and community members rallied outside a UVM board of trustees meeting to call for fair labor standards on campus.
Lester Gockley, a UVM maintenance worker and member of the United Electrical Workers Local 267, said a lot of skilled jobs are going by the wayside at the university. "There is a blatant attempt to subcontract a lot of work," he said. And without a union in place to fight against this move, more jobs may have been lost by now.
"Since the arrival of UE at UVM, our organization has led an attempt to promote a livable wage, and UVM has fought this every step of the way," he said.
A UVM spokesman said the school does not openly work against union activity, as evident by the fact that four employee groups are unionized, and strives to ensure that all employees are cared for.
"Our approach with union organizing is that we simply want to make sure that our employees are in the best position to make a well-informed decision as to whether union representation is in their best interest," said Enrique Corredera, a UVM spokesman. "We also recognize the importance of well-compensated and well-cared for employees, whether they are faculty or staff as they are critical to the success of the institution and our ability to fulfill our vision."
Other than UVM employees, former employees at Wal-Mart and IBM, as well as staff members from the Community College of Vermont and Verizon, testified about the challenges they faced trying to form or maintain unions.
Haslam called the event an important step in bringing the real-life struggles of working families to the attention of people who have the power to make change.
"What we saw today was regular people coming together who have the audacity to say that we should have livable wages and good jobs, the freedom to organize, and that health care should be a basic right available to everybody," said Haslam. "And even though we are told that these things are not politically possible ... together we can change what is politically possible. This event was a step in that direction."