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By James Haslam, on May 5th, 2010  MONTPELIER – Vermonters from all across the state converged on the statehouse on May 1st in a demonstration to show that Vermont can and should be the first state in the nation to recognize healthcare as a human right and provide it as a public good by implementing a single-payer, universal healthcare system.
Over a thousand people marched from the Montpelier City Hall down to the capital building accompanied by drums, dancers, puppets, baloons and signs supporting universal healthcare whiloe chanting “hey, hey what do we say? Vermont is ready to lead the way!” The marchers then joined another two hundred participants already at the Statehouse lawn and swarmed up the capitol steps for a festive rally. They were joined by US Sen Bernie Sanders and the rally also featured skits by various regional organizing committees of the “Healthcare Is A Human Right” campaign, musical performances by Vermont artists, and speeches by campaign leaders from all parts of the state.
Sanders, a longtime advocate of universal care,
Continue reading 1000 Rally For Single Payer Healthcare in Vermont
By Allison Fletcher Acosta, on April 8th, 2010  In 2008, the Vermont Workers’ Center/JwJ launched the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign. On May 1, 2009 their “Healthcare Is A Human Right” Rally at the Statehouse drew over 1,200 participants and was the largest weekday rally in the state capitol’s history. They are gearing up now for an even bigger rally this May 1st. Over the past few months the campaign has organized a series of People’s Forums across the state with almost 100 state legislators and over 1,000 total participants. They have released two videos about the campaign, “If Vermont Leads, the Rest of the Nation Will Follow” and “We Ain’t No Fools Day.”
Yesterday, the Vermont State Senate voted 28-2 in favor of the S.88 healthcare bill. The bill calls for the Legislature’s Health Care Reform Commission to hire consultants who will design three health care models with implementation timelines beginning in July 2012. One of the three models must be a single-payer system that is government-administered and publicly financed. All three of the models must meet the Healthcare is a Human Right principles of universal, comprehensive,
Continue reading Step Forward in Vermont’s Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign
By rand wilson, on March 4th, 2010 (Originally published on Working In These Times blog at http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/5639/troublemakers_go_to_school_in_boston)
 BOSTON—More than 90 union members, students and community activists jammed the SEIU Local 888 union hall here on Saturday for a “Troublemakers School” sponsored by Massachusetts Jobs with Justice.
IBEW Local 2222 Business Manager Myles Calvey gave a rousing welcome to kick things off. “We’re not going to get labor’s problems solved in Washington or on Beacon Hill unless we take a page from the civil rights and gay rights movements,” said Calvey, a former New England telecom strike leader. “We’ve got to be a lot more aggressive so that politicians are forced to deal with our issues. We’ve got make our problems, their problems!”
Calvey was followed by a panel of local organizers from the United Food and Commercial Workers’ Angelica Laundry strike, Service Employees’ Local 1199’s Caritas hospital campaign and American Federation of Government Employee’s Transportation Safety Officers organizing drive. Their presentations were followed by a wide-ranging discussion about organizing strategies and reports from other workplace struggles. (To learn more about these campaigns, go to www.ufcwlocal1445.org/Open1445Intro2.htm; http://fairunionelections.org and
Continue reading Troublemakers Go to School in Boston
By James Haslam, on January 8th, 2010 More than two hundred Vermonters from the Vermont Worker’s Center “Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign (HCHR)” filled the Cedar Creek room at the Statehouse on January 6th, coming from all over the state, to deliver thousands of postcards to the leadership of the State Legislature and to take action on the two single-payer health care bills, S.88 and H.100, and mend the broken healthcare system this year.
“We came here today because we seek to change what is politically possible in the health care reform process,” said Susan Lucas, RN president of the nurses union at Copley Hospital. “We believe that health care is not a commodity but a public good shared by all. The time is now to make health care a basic fundamental right for every single person”
The event received a lot of attention from the Vermont media. Check it out!
“Rally for Health Care Reform in Vermont”, WCAX
“Health Care Rally Held at Vermont Statehouse”, WPTZ
“Workers Lobby for Single Payer Health Care”, Vermont Public Radio
“Flurry of Activity in First Day of Session”, Vermont Press Bureau
And we’re just getting started! There are many upcoming events for the
Continue reading Health Care is a Human Right in 2010
By James Haslam, on December 2nd, 2009 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
Continue reading Single-Payer Health Care Will Be Taken Up in Vermont 2010 Legislature
By Attica Woodson Scott, on November 3rd, 2009  After a rally supported by the Kentucky AFL-CIO, Ironworkers, Kentucky Jobs with Justice, Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Nurses Professional Organization, Kentuckians for Single Payer and more on Thursday, October 29th, more than a dozen activists took over the lobby of Humana headquarters in downtown Louisville to show their support for universal health care. After being locked in the Humana building overnight and awakened at 5AM by local news media, the 24-hour take-over ended on Friday, October 30th as eight powerful people exited the Humana building and were greeted by a welcoming crowd of folks gathered for a closing rally.
By jwjnational, on October 30th, 2009 As you probably know, health care reform is making its way through Congress. This week, the House of Representatives introduced their health care reform bill. The bill is strong in many ways, but two single-payer amendments that were promised a vote this fall were not in it. The House leadership still has the power to change that.
One of the amendments, introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, would allow states to implement state-wide single-payer systems. The other, by Rep. Anthony Weiner, would call for a vote on national single-payer legislation for the first time in history.
We need your voice to get these amendments back on the table. Call:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi: DC (202) 225-4965 or SF (415) 556-4862
Rep. George Miller: DC (202) 225-2095 or Concord (925) 602-1880
Rep. Henry Waxman: DC (202) 225-3976 or LA (323) 651-1040
The message is simple: Keep the Kucinich Amendment to allow states to pass single-payer, and allow Rep. Anthony Weiner introduce his single-payer amendment!
By jwjnational, on October 20th, 2009 Cross-posted from the Vermont Workers’ Center blog.
FAIRLEE – This past weekend, the Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO convention delegates representing 9,500-members unanimously voted to:
endorse H.100 and S.88 … (and to) play a leading role together with our allies in the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign … in mobilizing broad public and political support for single-payer healthcare.
Building a powerful movement “to change what is politically possible” with real healthcare reform is the Vermont AFL-CIO’s #1 priority.
Convention delegates also put a parade of politicians, including four Democratic gubernatorial aspirants, on notice that they expected political leaders to work to pass single payer legislation in Vermont this year. Legislative leaders of the Working Vermonters Caucus also pledged to make passing H.100 and S.88 a priority.
In September in a unanimous vote, the national AFL-CIO endorsed the Single Payer Medicare for All approach to healthcare reform as the “most cost-effective and equitable way to provide quality healthcare for all.” United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, who chaired the discussion said, “Whatever the outcome of the current debate over health care reform in the 111th Congress, the task of establishing health care as a human right, not a
Continue reading Vermont AFL-CIO Endorses Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign and Joins National in Supporting Single-Payer
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