Last night the Vermont Workers’ Center’s “Healthcare is a Human Right” Campaign held their second Chittenden County People’s Forum on Healthcare at St. Michael’s College.
State Senator Doug Racine, chair of Vermont’s Senate health and welfare committee, announced that his committee will begin holding hearings on S.88, the bill that (along with its House companion H.100) will put Vermont on the road to recognizing healthcare as a human right.
“Healthcare is the most basic of human rights,” said Racine. He has scheduled the first public hearing on the bill, to be held jointly with the House health care committee, for January 12, exactly one week after the start of the 2010 legislative session.
Racine’s choice of Tuesday’s forum for the announcement was seen by many as recognition of the success of the Vermont Workers’ Center’s statewide grassroots campaign at putting pressure on the Vermont legislature to enact healthcare reform legislation that embodies human rights principles.
“We now have organizing committees statewide and we have been working with a number of other organizations to build a grassroots network capable of changing what is politically possible for healthcare reform in Vermont. It is clear that these efforts are pushing things in the right direction,” said James Haslam, Director of the Vermont Workers’ Center. “We hope other Vermont elected officials will join Senator Racine as champions to make this moral shift to make healthcare a public good for everybody.”
Six other state legislators participated in the forum, which was the eighth of its kind the Workers’ Center has held this Fall with a total of 70 state legislators and over 800 total participants. The event included testimony from area residents about their experiences with the broken healthcare system and a presentation on the principles and goals of the “Healthcare Is A Human Right” Campaign.
On January 6, the first working day of the 2010 legislative session, the Workers’ Center plans to deliver thousands of postcards from people across the state demanding healthcare as a human right to the legislative leadership.
“Vermont can lead the way. Where Congress has failed to stand up to the corrupting influence of powerful interests vested in the unsustainable healthcare status quo, Vermont will succeed,” said Bekah Mandell, the facilitator of the People’s Forum and a leader of the Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign. “Ordinary Vermonters will continue to put pressure on their elected representatives until we win this fundamental human right. It is clear to us, now, that we can win, and we will win.”
The support of unions and other grassroots member organizations capable of activating their bases is crucial to the success of this campaign. Unions and labor councils representing thousands of Vermont workers have joined the campaign, including the Vermont State Labor Council AFL-CIO, the United Professions of Vermont/AFT, the Vermont Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals, the United Nurses & Allied Professionals Local 5109, and the United Electrical Workers. By coordinating a grassroots organizing campaign, the Vermont Workers’ Center will prove to elected officials that Vermont is ready to take the next big step forward on healthcare.
The next People’s Forum on Healthcare is scheduled for Lamoille County at 7 P.M. on December 17th at the River Arts Center in Morrisville. House Speaker Shap Smith and other state legislators are expected to participate.
James Haslam is Director of the Vermont Workers’ Center.
