Northrup Grumman workers contribute "ethics" posters to company contest

Northrop Grumman, one of the companies that employs service center workers fighting for a first contract in St. Albans, held an "ethics" themed poster contest. UE Local 208 Northrop Grumman employees created their own submissions to the contest. See more of their posters at justiceatuscis.org . Also, on August 18th Workers' Center members helped lead a community/worker delegation which included State Senator Ginny Lyons and State Rep. Chris Pearson to the regional office of Homeland Security in South Burlington. We went to ask them to tell their DC adminstration the community was concerned and that the workers deserve livable wages. Here is a link to photo and recap»

10th Anniversary Dinner Celebrates Victories, Announces New Campaign: Healthcare Is a Human Right!

VWC members and allies sing Solidarity Forever at the 10th Anniverary Dinner.

At the Vermont Workers' Center 10th Anniversary Dinner last night, 150+ people celebrated ten years of struggle, recognized workers' victories from the past year, and kicked off the VWC's new Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign.

Barre Education Association president John Pandolfo spoke about Act 82, an unnecessary, dangerous and confusing law on local school funding passed by the legislature in 2007, which would require two votes to pass many school budgets. The Vermont NEA has been campaigning for the law's repeal, and the state house of representatives voted to repeal it in 2007; the repeal legislation is now sitting in the Senate.

VWC President Dawn Stanger presented 2008 Solidarity Awards to several groups of workers and community members who stood up for justice over the past year:

• Fletcher Allen Nurse Midwives, members of UPV/AFT Local 5221 who successfully organized with parents and the community to keep the FA midwifery program.
• Burlington School Support staff who are members of the Burlington Education Association and AFSCME Local 1343 who after a three year struggle have had a big livable wage victory.
• Child Labor Education & Action - Vermont high school leaders of CLEA led a successful fight to win legislation for anti-sweatshop procurement policies for the State of Vermont. Their sweat-free legislation passed and they expect the governor to sign the bill tomorrow.
• Rescue Inc., workers who organized with IAEP Local 48, part of SEIU - who did the hardest, most courageous and smartest things workers can do, withstood an anti-union campaign and successfully formed their union.
• And finally, the workers contracted with Stanley Assoc., Northrup Grummon and Choctaw at the Vermont Service Center in St. Albans, who withstood an intense anti-union campaign and won. Now more than 200 workers in Vermont and hundreds more in CA are UE members.

We also recognized two special groups of people, the "Unsung Heroes" and 2008 Solidarity School Graduates:

Unsung Heroes: These our the folks who run the Hotline, put stamps on postcards, make the turnout calls, make the flyers, do the “grunt” work of movement building, the everyday, mundane tasks:

Joyce Werntgen, Andy Crawford, Tina Scanlon, Julie Winn, Nick Parrish, Jennifer Shewmake, Angela DiGuilio, John MacLean, Emma Gordon, Kate Kanelstein, Michelle Lewis, Renna Temple and finally Amanda Blatchely, who designed the beautiful Solidarity Report and Healthcare Is a Human Right logo, posters and bumperstickers.

2008 Solidarity School Graduates: These are the people who participated in our second annual Solidarity School, the Workers' Center's comprehensive leadership training. These skill-building trainings cover organizing one-on-one, talking to your co-workers, building strategic contract and community campaigns, and the People's history of labor and social change.

2007 participants who came back to help lead in 2008: Marilyn Eldred, Jen Larsen and Rebecca Smith

2008 graduates: Nick Parrish, Chris Guros, Lynn Parrish, Michelle Lewis, Jennifer Shewmake, Angela DiGuilio, Emma Gordon, Kate Kanelstein, David Hamilton, Margaret Russell, Tim Billadeau, Linda Scrivens, Dottye Ricks, Amy Lester, Susan Hunter, Jeannette Weilland and Renna Temple

The youngest Solidarity School graduate, SLAP activist Renna Temple, addressed the audience and gave an inspiring speech about the real meaning of solidarity.

Finally, Erika Simard, a former Specialty Filaments worker, closed the program by telling of her harrowing experience with the healthcare system. After being laid off and losing her health insurance when Specialty Filaments closed, she realized that the drugs she needed to deal with her heart condition and keep her alive would cost more per month than her unemployment and training benefits. She concluded by introducing the VWC's newest campaign, Healthcare Is a Human Right:

Under this title, Healthcare Is A Human Right, we will build a statewide action network capable of winning and building a real democracy, where we are organized enough and strong enough to make all policymakers do what is right. Here’s the real exciting part of this announcement, one year and a couple days from now, on May 1st 2009, there is going to be an enormous rally at the State House, with thousands of Vermonters demanding healthcare as a basic human right. That day is a Friday, and the rally is going to be in the middle of the day. We are going to ask everyone who is sick of the current healthcare crisis and insecurity that we all face, to call in sick that day, take a sick day, a community health day, and join us at the State House. Some business owners who agree with us will decide to shut their doors that day and join their employees in Montpelier. Busses and car pooling caravans will come from every part of the state, to declare Healthcare Is A Human Right. Many politicians say that they agree with this, that it is good in theory, but its not politically possible. With this historic rally and the new network of working families that pull it off, we will change what is politically possible. We will make the healthcare crisis, a crisis for politicians, by mobilizing thousands of Vermonters to join us. Throughout our History, Vermonters have been known for being front runners, so lets show them what we can do!

Erika Simard's complete remarks >>

More photos from the dinner >>

WCAX Coverage of the Rally Against Act 82 >>

International Women's Day Party March 8

On March 8, 1908, working women in the needle trade industry took to the streets of New York City demanding better working conditions, higher wages, shorter workdays and the overall improvement of women's lives in this country. This year, on the 100th anniversary of that historic march, commemorated since 1910 as International Women's Day, join the Vermont Workers' Center in honoring all the working women who have fought for social justice with a short film, a panel discussion about working women's struggles in Vermont, and a social with refreshments and live music by VWC's own group, the Wildcat Strikers.

6pm Screening of With Babies and Banners, which tells the story of the women who became the backbone of The Great General Motors Sit Down Strike of 1937 — the labor movement's key to the successful drive for industrial unionism and a better life for working Americans.

7pm Panel discussion on the history of organizing around women's economic issues in Vermont and the history of the Women's Union, led by Elaine McCrate, Economics Professor at UVM.

8pm Refreshments, socializing and live music by the official band of the Vermont Workers' Center, the Wildcat Strikers.

[ download flyer ]

CHILD-FRIENDLY EVENT

2008 People's Calendar now available

The 2008 People's Calendar celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Vermont Workers' Center and has great photos of workers' rights struggles and victories in VT from the past decade (like the cover shot is from the 2002 Fletcher Allen nurses union organizing victory!) Each month feautures inspiring social justice quotes and is loaded with Vermont and global historical dates celebrating the struggles and people that have shaped our world.

Get your copy today — order at our online store, come by our new space, or become a monthly sustainer and receive the calendar as a free gift.

Friday Night at Metronome!

Doors open at 9pm! Come to dance and support the VT Workers' Center and Iraq Vets Against The War. If you haven't heard Matt Howard yet, don't miss this opportunity. Bernie will be there also, schedule permitting. Email james [at] workerscenter.org if you have any questions.

CCTV and Workers' Center to Show "Salt of the Earth" September 5

Salt of the Earth is the first and only film ever blacklisted in the U.S. Telling the story of a zinc mine strike in 1950-51, and produced using few professional actors (most of the actors are actual miners, many of them involved in the strike), the film shows workers and their families taking on and wrestling with issues of health and safety, racism, and feminism — well before the civil rights and women's movements of the 1950s and 60s brought these issues into the mainstream. Read more about Salt of the Earth at Rotten Tomatoes and Wikipedia

Wednesday, September 5, 6:30pm
CCTV Studios (294 North Winooski, Burlington)

The Livable Wage Battle Hymn

(to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic")

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the day
When we won't just work for peanuts
We will work for decent pay
So it's time to stop complaining
And draw action from our rage
In the fight for a livable wage

CHORUS:
Come, let's join the great big chorus
No one else will do it for us
And we know we'll win the day
In our fight for decent pay
Cause the union makes us strong

We know our work is valuable
Our bosses know it too
And the workers who we stand beside
Depend on what we do
In our jobs and our communities
We're just like super glue
Cause the union makes us strong

CHORUS

Well they say the times are tough out there
That taxes are too high
But we also pay those taxes
And watch health bills go sky-high
We're not asking for a free lunch
But we want our piece of pie
And the union makes us strong

CHORUS

(sung at April 12, 2003 Livable Wage March in Burlington)

The Struggle

A poem dedicated to the Steering Committee of the Vermont Workers' Center and performed at the 2nd Annual Burlington Labor Day Weekend Parade & Picnic at Battery Park August 31, 2002.

By James Haslam

All these plant closings keep going down.
Town after town,
These Corporations just ain't foolin' around.
Can you hear the sound, of that last closing bell ringing?
'Cause the fat woman has been singing
Farewell to Kimberly-Clark, Book Press, Ethan Allen, Stanley Tools
And many more that are going down because of these free trade rules.
Stanley Tools, who played Vermonters like fools.
We made them money for 96 years!
Shaftsbury was Stanley's most profitable plant in the Northern Hemisphere,
But they go to China and leave us in tears.
Folks be poaching deers to put food on the table,
And now the strong and the able
Have no means
As a result of these free market schemes
These nightmares that were American Dreams
The Many struggle for bread, but you betcha the Few got their cream.
Doesn't it steam ya, that last year IBM's CEO Sam Palmisano had $70 million dollar payoff
And now they're talking about yet another IBM layoff.
Friends this is way-off
We try to form unions, our own organizations
And we are met with brutalization
Corporations are against civilization.
So let's ask the question
Why - is our economy run as a private tyranny
When we are suppose to live in a Democracy?
We can still all remember that word, right?
Democracy?
When it works for you
And it works for me
It works for us
And we means we.
'Cause if we keep letting the golfing crowd do the math
They'll have us all working in retail sales, as cashiers or as waitstaff
And I don't think we want that to be our epitaph
Because as we feel the wrath of Corporate power
And folks are trying to get by on $6.25 an hour.
In this shower of injustice, this tidal wave of greed
When Corporate profits come before human need..
We can read the writing on the wall
We're struggling now, and even if our victories are small
We're beginning to learn that an injury to one IS and injury to all.
We're beginning to understand that Solidarity is more than just a word, and we can feel it in our bones.
And as this movement grows, we go out on the streets, knock on doors, pickup phones..
And no matter our skin tones, sexual preferences, gender or religion
Together, workers united, damn! We can win!