Vermont AFSCME: Collective Bargaining Rights Under Attack!
By Karl Labounty
As President of AFSCME Local 1343 and as Vice President of the Vermont AFL-CIO, I take the rights of working people seriously. Like most Vermonters, I believe our democracy is best served when workers have more (not less) opportunities to vote on the issues which directly impact their lives. I myself labor for the Burlington School District as part of their maintenance staff. My fellow union members serve as custodians, bus drivers, food service workers, as IT specialists, and in number of other critical positions. In short, we are the backbone of public services. As a union member I take pride in the fact we democratically elect the bargaining teams that negotiate our contracts, and no contract is final until it is voted on by our members and approved by elected representatives of our communities. This, in part, is what it means to have workplace democracy, and this is a right that many generations of Vermonters have benefited from.
