Working Class Vermonters,
Politicians come and go. Laws change. Constitutions remain.
On election day, Nov. 3, all Vermonters will be going to the polls and voting on whether or not to forever enshrine our right to form and belong to a labor union into our Vermont State Constitution. If passed, Proposal 3 would forever protect the rights of all workers in the Green Mountains to be union.
The billionaires, bosses, and elite hate this constitutional amendment because they dream of a day when they can buy enough lawmakers in Montpelier to make us a so-called “right-to-work” state. In short, they oppose unions because they know that when we come together, when we are organized, we, the working class, are the great majority, and as such we have more potential power to shape our world more than their wealth can ever realize. If they could break us, they would. But we are union strong, and we know that laboring people make up 99% of the population. And it’s about time that we gained rights and protections in our constitution so that we, as a labor movement, can continue our fight to achieve livable wages, universal healthcare, paid family medical leave, affordable housing, food security, higher education, jobs, and a more direct participatory democracy for all.
While I know that together we shall pass Proposal 3 on election day, the rich and powerful out-of-staters are spending millions to try to trick, fool, and cajole working people to vote against our own collective interests. They are sending out mailings, paying for radio ads, submitting op-eds, and they have no shame when it comes to lying in order to advance their corporate agenda.
Here are the facts. Proposal 3 simply takes existing Vermont labor law and places it into our constitution as an unalienable right, so that no future politician, by hook or by crook, can seek to diminish or negate our present union rights. That is all.
Look, we are the working class – and we are the majority. Our power is growing. And we need each and every one of you to show up on Nov. 3 to vote “yes” on Proposal 3. But we need more than that. As president emeritus of the Vermont AFL-CIO, I implore you to make a point to speak with your family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors, and ask them to support the rights of working people by voting “yes” on Proposal 3. And together, let’s all get out and vote “yes” on 3 and thereby send the oligarchs and the Trump administration a message they cannot ignore: Vermont stands with workers, Vermont is union strong!
Sincerely,
David Van Deusen
Vermont AFL-CIO President Emeritus
Moretown, Vt.