Witnesses tell House General and Housing Committee Prop 3 would enshrine Vermonters' right to organize

Sean Stott, director of governmental affairs for the Laborers' Midwest Region, David Mickenberg, attorney for Working Vermont and the Vermont Building Construction Trades Council, and Chris Doobie, president of Professional Firefighters of Vermont, told the House General and Housing Committee on April 17 that Proposition 3 would enshrine the right to organize and collectively bargain in the Vermont Constitution and block so-called right-to-work laws.

The witnesses said the amendment is intended to protect existing collective-bargaining rights from being reduced by future legislation or court decisions. "No longer would workers with a strong and effective voice in the workplace be at risk of being a political football blown around by the winds of one election's outcome to the next," Stott said, describing Illinois' recent experience after that state's amendment to protect workers' rights.

Prop 3 would add constitutional language affirming employees' right to organize and bargain collectively and would prohibit state-level right-to-work laws. David…