Making Jobs Better

Vermont Labor fights hard for all workers in Vermont. The 10,000 members of the Vermont AFL-CIO have joined together to raise the minimum wage, fight for affordable health care for all, increase safety in the workplace, and fight back against corporate excesses. And that's just the start.

Together, we have made Vermont a better place. And it is only possible because we do it together.

That's a lesson learned by union members in the workplace, where we stand together to negotiate our pay, our benefits, our retirements and our working conditions with our employers. And it works. Union families have a dramatically higher standard of living than other similarly employed families.

No matter their gender or race, our members make, on average, 27% more than non-union workers. Women union members earn 33% more than non-union counterparts. Latinos earn 51% more and African-Americans earn 35% more.

And our members are more protected when it comes to health care. 89% of union workers have medical coverage as opposed to 69% of non-union workers.

• Facts on how unions make jobs better.

Why form a union at your workplace?

One of the most frustrating things about a job can be when you have no control over what happens to you. Whether it’s lack of flexibility to take care of our families, sparse wages or disappearing health care benefits, too often decisions are made over our heads without any concern for our input.

There is a way to take control of your job, and that’s to form a union.

A union means that workers unite together to negotiate fair wages, benefits, and workplace conditions. A union gives us a say over our workplace and over our lives and it works. Union members have higher wages, better benefits, and a better quality of life.

In fact, unions are the best anti-poverty, equal opportunity, family security, middle class-building program for working people in America.

For more information, call Dennis at the Vermont AFL-CIO at (802) 223-5229 in Montpelier. It’s completely confidential. A union member will contact you and answer any questions you may have.

And for more information about a powerful new voice for working people who are not members of a union, visit Working America.