Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO: 2008

Friday, April 25, 2008

VT AFL-CIO Calls On Workers to Support Work Stoppage Against War

The Vermont AFL-CIO urges our 10,000+ members, and all working Vermonters, to discuss the actions of the Longshoremen, to wear anti-war buttons, and to take various actions of their own design and choosing in their workplace on May 1^st, 2008.

For Release April 23, 2008
Contact Persons:
David Van Deusen,District Vice President of the Vermont AFL-CIO
(802) 522-5812
Traven Leyshon , President Washington-Orange-Lamoille Labor Council, AFL-CIO
(802) 522-3484

VERMONT AFL-CIO CALLS ON WORKERS TO SUPPORT WEST COAST WORK STOPPAGE AGAINST WAR

Montpelier, VT –The Executive Board of the Vermont AFL-CIO, representing thousands of workers in countless sectors across Vermont, have unanimously passed an historic resolution expressing their “unequivocal” support for the first US labor work stoppage against the war in Iraq. The work stoppage, being organized by the Longshore Caucus of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU), will seek to shutdown all west coast ports during the day on May 1^st 2008. The Vermont AFL-CIO is the first state labor federation to publicly back the Longshoremen; other state federations are expected to follow.

The resolution, among other things, calls the war in Iraq “immoral, unwanted, and unnecessary”, states that the vast majority of working Vermonters oppose the war, and contends that the war will only be brought to an end by “the direct actions of working people.” Many other Vermont labor unions and organizations, including the Vermont Workers’ Center, have also made official statements condemning the war.

The resolution also calls on working Vermonters to “discuss the actions of the Longshoremen, to wear anti-war buttons, and to take various actions of their own design and choosing in their workplace on May 1^st, 2008.”

“Workers in Vermont and all across this nation are against this war. We have already demanded that the government end it, but they have consistently failed to heed our words. Therefore working people are beginning to take concrete steps to make our resistance known. If the war does not immediately end we, the unions and working people of Vermont, will also be compelled to take appropriate action,” said David Van Deusen, District Vice President of the Washington-Lamoille-Orange region AFL-CIO.

Traven Leyshon, President of the Washington-Orange-Lamoille Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, said, “Vermont labor has long called for an end to this war. The untold billions being spent on the war could instead be used to address our domestic needs. It is working people who pay the cost of the war - in some cases with our lives, but always with our sacrifices.”

Vermont AFL-CIO Resolution In Solidarity With Longshoremen’s

West Coast Strike Against War April, 2008

Whereas the war in Iraq is immoral, unwanted, and unnecessary,

Whereas this unjust war is opposed by the great majority of Americans & Vermonters, the bulk of organized labor, and by thousands of enlisted military personal,

Whereas this unjust war has already resulted in over 4000 American dead (including a disproportionate number of brave Vermonters), and tens of thousands of service men & woman being wounded,

Whereas this unjust war has further resulted in untold number of Iraqi deaths,

Whereas the Federal Government has not made any constructive moves towards the ending of this war and the full removal of US troops, and instead has taken the course of escalation and indefinite occupation,

Whereas the government of Vermont, and especially Governor Jim Douglas, have failed to find ways to bring Vermont National Guard troops home from Iraq,

Whereas this war will only be brought to an end by the direct actions of working people,

Therefore, Let It Be Resolved that the Vermont AFL-CIO continues to stand in firm opposition to this war, and unequivocally supports the decision of the Longshore Caucus of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) to shutdown the west coast ports for a period of 8 hours on May 1^st, 2008, as a means of resistance.

Let It Be Resolved that the Vermont AFL-CIO stands in full solidarity with the New York Metro Local of the American Postal Workers who have resolved to conduct two minute periods of silence on May 1^st, 2008, at 1PM, 5PM & 9PM in protest of the war and in support of the Longshoremen.

Let It Be Resolved that the Vermont AFL-CIO encourages all Vermont workers to stand in solidarity with the historic actions being taken by the Longshoremen & other labor unions to end this war.

Let It Be Further Resolved that the Vermont AFL-CIO calls for all Vermont workers to discuss the actions of the Longshoremen, to wear anti-war buttons, and to take various actions of their own design and choosing in their workplace on May 1^st, 2008 as a means of resistance against this unjust war.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Labor Forum: Turn Around America - Health Care

Wednesday, April 23rd at 6:30
at Montpelier's Kellog-Hubbard Library, downstairs in the East Montpelier Room
hosted by the Washington-Orange-Lamoille Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Our labor council is joining hundreds of others around the country in featuring the fight for health care.
This is one meeting you can't afford to miss - and bring friends and co-workers with you.

Health Care: Turn Around America in 2008
Speakers:
Traven - Organizing to Make Health Care a Human Right for All
Dr. Marvin Malek

"Turn Around America: Health Care" Video
Health Care and Labor 2008
Our Approach: Organize!

This is part of a national AFL-CIO campaign to win universal health care. The Vermont campaign will be coordinated with the Vermont Workers Center's Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign which aims to change what is "politically possible" in the healthcare debate through grassroots organizing and a strategic re-framing of healthcare as a basic human right and the healthcare crisis as a human rights emergency. While our long-term goal is a universal, single-payer healthcare system, our focus in the immediate period is not on policy, but on educating, organizing and mobilizing the broad working class around the demand that healthcare is a human right.

Free and open to the public

Monday, February 11, 2008

UNION ORGANIZER TRAINING

The AFL-CIO Organizing Institute will be holding a 2-day organizer training in the Manchester, NH area. The training will be held at the New Hampshire AFL-CIO office located at 161 Londonderry Turnpike, Hooksett, NH.

The purpose of this training is to give activist members basic organizing skills. All affiliate unions are welcome to send members to this training.

If you are looking to train members to help work on your organizing campaigns here is your chance. At this training members will learn …

· One-on-one communication skills

· How to move workers to take action

· Leadership identification

· Basic elements of a union organizing campaign

The 2-day training will run from:

10:00am – 8:00pm Saturday, February 23, 2008

9am – 5:00pm Sunday, February 24, 2008

Contact Dennis LaBounty: labounty17@charter.net at the Vermont AFL-CIO for more information and a sponsorship form.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Hundreds of Workers Join AFL-CIO Unions

Here are Bargaining Digest highlights from Jan. 7–11. The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.

Organizing
CWA, AT&T: Some 600 AT&T customer service representatives in Dover, N.H., have voted to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1298, becoming the largest union local to organize in New Hampshire since 1966, when 950 workers organized at the Granite Rubber Co. with the Pulp and Sulphate Union.
More >>

King Day Celebration Combines Civil Rights, Labor and Political Strength

by James Parks

In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. told striking sanitation workers that we all are “tied together in a single garment of destiny.”

"If one black person suffers, if one black person is down, we’re all down. It is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive slave wages."

With studies showing that a shocking 45 percent of African Americans who were born in the late 1960s into middle-class families have fallen into the bottom 20 percent of income, more than 600 union and civil rights activists are gathering in Memphis this week to reaffirm their commitment to making King's dream a reality.
More >>

Friday, January 11, 2008

Jan. 26th: Building a Movement: Vermont Workers Justice Summit

Building a Movement: Vermont Workers Justice Summit
9 – 2, Jan. 26th
Davis Center, UVM Burlington

Download a brochure in PDF format: [ General | For Healthcare Workers ]

Agenda

8:45-9:10	REGISTRATION
9:15-9:50	WELCOMING SESSION Organizing for Our Future Special Guest: Larry Cohen, President, Communications Workers of America
10-10:50	WORKSHOP SESSION 1 Developing An Economy That Works For All (Traven Leyshon, President Washington-Orange-Lamoille County Central Labor Council AFL-CIO and Director of Highroad Vermont) Defending Social Services & Fighting Privatization (Ed Stanak, former president of the VT State Employees Association) Using The Media Effectively In Your Campaigns (Darren Allen, Vermont NEA & Doug Gibson, VSEA) Lessons from the Verizon Stop The Sale Campaign & The Next Steps in Universal Broadband Access in New England (Larry Cohen, CWA and Mike Spillane IBEW Local 2326, goes for both sessions) Building a Campaign for Livable wages (Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, former director of the VT Livable Wage Campaign and organizer with Vermont NEA) Getting Started: Basics in beginning to organize for change in our communities (James Haslam, Director of Vermont Workers' Center and Phil Fiermonte, longtime community & labor organizer) Global Trade, Outsourcing & Workers Organizing Across Borders (Dan Brush, organizer with Teamsters Local 1L, Earl Mongeon and Lee Conrad from Alliance @ IBM) How to survive and thrive in a career in healthcare (Jen Henry, RN, president of the Fletcher Allen nurses union)
11-11:50	WORKSHOP SESSION 2 Strategies in Starting to Organize At Your Workplace (James Haslam, Vermont Workers' Center) Labor Mobilizing For Elections (Jan Schaffer, AFL-CIO) The Labor Movement and the fight for quality universal healthcare (Traven Leyshon, Washington-Orange-Lamoille CLC, Highroad Vermont) People vs. Money: Grassroots Lobbying To Win Legislation (Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, former director, VLWC and organizer, Vermont NEA) Creating A Beautiful Revolution: Using Art In Our Campaigns (Jessica Morley, President UE Local 203, & members of the Vermont Workers' Center Art Committee) No Child Left Behind, Act 82 & the Future of Public Education Funding in Vermont (Angelo Dorta and Darren Allen of Vermont NEA) Starting From Scratch: How to start organizing at your school (Kate Kandelstein, UVM SLAP and other SLAP and CLEA leaders)
12-12:45	BROWN BAG WORKING LUNCH A People's History of Healthcare in the United States: Presentation by Jonathan Kissam, Vermont Workers' Center Education Committee
12:45-2:00	PLENARY: Building a Movement for Healthcare for All, Livable Wages and Workers' Rights Facilitated by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders Panel includes: JEN HENRY, President, UPV/AFT ANGELO DORTA, President, Vermont NEA ANGELA DIGIULIO, Student Labor Action Project LARRY COHEN, President, Communications Workers of America (CWA)
2pm	GROUP PHOTO and MARCH Participants are invited to join the Many Struggles, One Movement march, part of a Global Day of Action: Act Together for Another World. For more information, visit wsf2008vt.blogspot.com

Friday, January 4, 2008

COPE/LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE 2008

Sunday, January 27th

Place: Burlington High School, 52 Institute Road, Burlington
Time: Registration 9 a.m. - Meeting 10 a.m.
Cost: $30 per person in advance - $35 after Jan. 18th
Includes lunch, morning coffee and danish