james's blog

Working parents with young children across the state of Vermont are daily confronted with a difficult choice: work outside of the home and pay for childcare, or stay home with their children and try to make ends meet on one income, or no income for single parent families. For one Essex Junction parent, the equation just didn’t make sense anymore. After paying for childcare for 2 children, she was bringing home $70.00 for a 40 hour work week. She left her job and now sits on the other side of the equation, trying to make a living as a registered home provider.

[This article was originally published in Bennington Banner, VT Digger, Rutland Herald along with other VT media outlets. ]

Start putting people first, right here

In 1967 in his Christmas sermon, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "I still have a dream that one day the idle industries of Appalachia will be revitalized, and the empty stomachs of Mississippi will be filled, and brotherhood will be more than a few words at the end of a prayer, but rather the first order of business on every legislative agenda."

Giving Thanks to all who Struggle for a Better World:
As we sit down with our friends and families to share a meal together, we should honor indigenous Native communities and who continue to fight for their land and sovereignty against colonialism and corporate greed (Check out IEN's struggle against the Keystone XL Pipeline at http://www.ienearth.org/).

In the November issue of In These Times we have a feature article on lessons from our universal healthcare struggle. The original draft was written for our Summer Leadership Retreat this summer but we also wanted to share this with our peers around the country. It has been a true honor to work with so many amazing and committed people. There were countless lessons learned in the past three years, these are five we wanted to lift up as valuable for our road ahead building a movement with our counterparts everywhere. They were earned by the tireless work of hundreds of people.

One Movement for the People and the Planet
text of speech given from Moving Planet Rally at Vermont Statehouse,9/24/11
by James Haslam

Yesterday, with the vote on the universal healthcare bill H.202, we saw politics at its best and at its worst. At its best, because the participation of thousands of Vermonters in the Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign convinced a strong majority in the Senate to pass a historic universal healthcare bill. At its worst, because a majority of senators also approved an amendment to make the bill less than universal, in a cynical political move to appeal to hatred and intolerance.

Terrible news folks. We lost a leader of our movement way too early. I first met Karen when we started the Student Labor Action Chapter at UVM in 2006. When she graduated and became a nurse at UVM she almost instantly became a leader of the union.

As you might have already heard, Vermonters won a huge step towards universal healthcare today in the House in a final vote on H.202 92-49 (see release below). Big thank you's and recognition to everyone who worked so hard helping us get this far. It has been amazing seeing how far we have come, seeing how strong all of you leaders around the state have become and also how many new incredible people are getting involved everyday. It's great to be working with you, to be building this movement together, to be seeing all the hard work pay off.

The House Healthcare Committee is in the final stages of marking up H.202 and we understand they could be voting the bill out of committee tomorrow.

It is important that everyone make their voices heard, go to www.workerscenter.org/takeaction to send an email and call Sgt-at-arms to let your representatives know you believe healthcare is a human right!

20+ people showed up in a blizzard to deliver testimony from the campaign to the House Healthcare Committee. Danny Bodreau (chief steward for the nurses union at Rutland hospital), Mari Cordes, Peg Franzen and David Kreindler presented the testimony to the Committee. Pink slips from the Sgt-at-arms calls were flowing steady the entire time. Great job everybody!

See testimony: http://www.workerscenter.org/node/752

Suggested ammendments: http://www.workerscenter.org/h.202_amendments

Table with Assessment of H.202: