The Vermont AFL-CIO is under attack! To defend Union democracy, to defend all that United! has achieved in the Green Mountains since coming into power in 2019 (more than doubling membership, building power beyond the Democratic Party, and passing the VT PRO Act), I am asking you to click the below link and sign the petition to National AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler demanding she uphold 2023 election which saw Katie Maurice (United!) elected to President, and Ellen Kate (United!) elected to Executive Vice President.
Without Union action now dark undemocratic forces within the National AFL-CIO, spearheaded by Liz Shuler, will carry out a coup against the elected leadership of the Vermont AFL-CIO. If it can happen to us, it can happen to any Labor Council.
Click the following link to sign a petition addressed to AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/vt-united-petition
Please forward widley.
-David Van Deusen, Former President of The Vermont AFL-CIO (2019-2021 & 2021-2023)
PS Attached you will find my rebuttal to conservative election deniers I personally provided to the Vermont AFL-CIO Executive Board last winter, shortly before this elected body overwhelmingly voted to uphold the election results which again showed clear majority support for the working class left United! Caucus. ***
From The United Cacus of The Vermont AFL-CIO:
| Dear Union Brothers, Sisters, Siblings, and Allies,Please click the following link to sign a petition addressed addressed to AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/vt-united-petition At the Vermont AFL-CIO convention this past September, the United! slate won an election that had the participation of 125 delegates, representing 20,000 union members, a record-breaking moment in our state’s history. Vermont’s labor movement has never been stronger. Before the United! slate was elected in 2019, the VT AFL-CIO had half the membership it has today, and in the 2000s participation by 20 delegates would be a high mark for attendance. Our rate of incredible growth is thanks to Vermont union members working hard together. We thank the Vermont union rank & file for all for the support that made our remarkable gains possible. The victory of the United! slate was a statement that the majority of the VT AFL-CIO’s members wanted us to continue driving the labor movement: by empowering everyday workers to become leaders in their workplace. The Workers’ Circles program helped form unions such as UVM Graduate Students United (UAW), Ben & Jerry’s Scoopers United, Gakru United, and Black Cap Workers United. We do not believe that only those at the top of leadership should be making decisions. We have been shifting the balance of political power so that politicians pledge to us rather than us pledging to them. Recently, the PRO Act passed our state legislature. The bill allows domestic workers to unionize; puts agricultural workers on a potential path to the right to unionize; bans captive audience meetings; and allows public sector unions to use a simple majority to determine elections. The passage of the PRO Act exemplifies our core principle of democratization. When former President Trump refused to concede the 2020 election, we authorized a call for a general strike in the event he failed to uphold the peaceful transfer of power. The national AFL-CIO threatened to reprimand us, but we stood strong together in solidarity. On May 7, the VT AFL-CIO was informed that AFL-CIO President Elizabeth H. Shuler ordered a rerun election for the positions of President and Executive Vice President of our state labor council, in response to an election protest filed by the losing candidate for President. This decision was made despite the fact that our Executive Board rejected the charges filed over the election after a rigorous and democratic investigation that concluded on December 10, 2023—and by an overwhelming margin that included most of the board members who had voted for the candidate filing the complaint. We want to focus our priorities on fighting the abusive bosses, not the national AFL-CIO. However, we now must push back against the AFL-CIO’s decision for the sake of setting a national precedent. We want rank-and-file union members to see that they have the right and the power to determine their own destiny. We are in this for the long haul. We are asking for your support in democratizing and revitalizing not only the Vermont AFL-CIO, but the entire AFL-CIO from top to bottom. Please take the time at the attached link at the top to send a message of support to President Shuler and the rest of the AFL-CIO Executive Committee.In Solidarity,The United! SlateKatherine Maurice, President, VSLC, AFSCME 1674 Ellen Kaye, Executive Vice President, VSLC, AFT 5754 Jack Roberts, Vice President (AFT) VSLC, AFT 5754 David Feurzeig, Vice President (AFT) VSLC, AFT 3203-United Academics Graham LeBel, Vice President (AFSCME), VSLC, AFSCME 1343Renee Nied, Vice President Windham/Windsor VSLC, UFCW 1459 Jeremy Rathbun, Vice President Addison/Rutland VSLC, AFSCME 1201 Traven Leyshon, Vice President Washington-Orange VSLC, OPEIU 153Rebeka Mendelsohn, Vice President Members-At-Large VSLC, Workers United RRJBPaul Montague, VP Postal Workers, APWU of Vermont |
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