House committee holds walkthrough of Proposition 3, proposed constitutional right to collectively bargain

The House Committee on General and Housing on April 9, 2025 held an introductory walkthrough of Proposition 3, a proposed constitutional amendment that would establish a constitutional right to collectively bargain in Vermont. Sophie Sedatny of the Office of Legislative Counsel briefed the committee and the panel penciled in a public hearing for April 22, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. in Room 10; written comments are due the Sunday before the hearing at 5:00 p.m., and testimony will generally be limited to three minutes.

Sedatny, who presented a slide version of the amendment because a “clean copy” was not available, read the amendment’s operative language and stressed key features and uncertainties. Quoting the draft, she summarized the first clause: “employees have a right to organize or join a labor organization for the purpose of collectively bargaining with their employer through an exclusive representative of their choosing for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours, and working conditions, and to protect their economic welfare and safety in the workplace.” She also read the amendment’s second sentence, which would bar future laws that “interfere with, negate, or diminish” the right to bargain and would prohibit laws that prevent union-security agreements.

The committee’s discussion focused on three recurring legal issues: (1) who the word “employees” would cover, (2) how state provisions would interact with existing federal labor law such as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and (3) how the amendment would interact with U.S. Supreme Court precedent governing public-sector union dues. Sedatny told the committee that the draft language is broad and not limited to any specific employee category; she said that, if enacted, the constitutional right could be interpreted to reach categories currently excluded from Vermont’s labor-relations statutes.

Sedatny cited other jurisdictions for comparison, noting Illinois adopted a broadly similar constitutional amendment that went to voters in November 2022 and that litigation and interpretation there remain unsettled. She also warned that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 Janus decision — which prevents requiring public-sector employees to pay union dues or agency fees — would limit how the amendment could operate in the public sector unless the U.S. Supreme Court changes that precedent.

Members raised specific hypotheticals: whether agricultural or domestic workers who are excluded from bargaining under current federal or state statute would gain enforceable rights; whether legislative aides, judicial supervisors, assistant attorneys general or other excluded groups would be covered; and whether routine procedural rules (for example, thresholds for demonstrating employee support to trigger an election) would survive judicial review. Sedatny said those questions ultimately would be resolved by courts and by subsequent statutory design: a constitutional right gives courts a basis to review statutes that impose or preserve exclusions, but courts would decide how procedural rules fit with a constitutionally protected right.

Committee staff and members noted practical next steps: the committee will accept written testimony per the posted deadline, invited experts and witnesses who testified to the Senate last year (including Professor Teachout of Vermont Law School, who submitted written testimony to the Senate), and planned to take public testimony at the April 22 hearing. No formal committee vote or legislative action occurred during the April 9 walkthrough; the committee proceeded to other agenda introductions after the discussion.

Why it matters: If voters approve Proposition 3, the amendment could expand the set of workers with a constitutional right to organize and could limit the Legislature’s ability to enact future statutes that narrow collective-bargaining rights (for example, state-level “right-to-work” measures). The amendment would also likely trigger litigation to define which employees are protected and how procedural tools for union recognition fit with a constitutional right.

Next steps: The committee’s public hearing is scheduled for April 22, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. in Room 10; the committee assistant (Magali) will accept requests to testify, written submissions are due the Sunday before the hearing at 5:00 p.m., and the committee expects to hear invited experts during that hearing.