Legislative Session 2010
Healthcare Is A Human Right
Many unions have endorsed the HCHR Campaign because it is time to move healthcare forward and Vermont is a state that can lead the way. We see the effects that our current system has on our families, our neighbors, our communities and our state. Patients who delay care because they fear the cost are often more ill and require more care/treatments to regain their health. For some, it has cost them their lives. We believe in the principles of the HCHR campaign. Please get involved and help VT lead the way to reform healthcare.
VT Workers Center
Read the Senate bill - S88
Read the House bill - H100
Ban On Mandatory Overtime
Then the Ban On Mandatory Overtime passes House General Affairs on 2/16/10!! Now it will go to another committee before it moves to the House floor for a full House of Representatives vote. This bill has tremendous support within the House and Senate, but there is significant pressure from the VT Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (VAHHS) to "kill the bill". We have the support of the VSNA and the ANA. Other states have passed similar bills in an effort to improve the safety and quality of care. We have a Ban on Mandatory OT in our contract, but it must be preserved every 3 years in negotiations and only protects bargaining unit members. We believe a statewide ban is the best solution for patient safety and healthcare worker safety. Read more at: http://archive.aft.org/topics/mandatory-overtime/ and http://www.workerscenter.org/node/53 and read the text of H.268 at House http://www.leg.state.vt.us/database/status/textonly.cfm
Safe Patient Handling
Read the Senate bill - S.80
Read the House bill - H.238
We are members of a United Professions AFT Vermont, our state federation of the AFT.
We work together through our Committee On Political Education (COPE) to improve the lives of our members and their families, to give voice to their legitimate professional, economic and social aspirations, to strengthen the institutions in which we work, to improve the quality of the services we provide, to bring together all members to assist and support one another and to promote democracy, human rights and freedom in our union, in our nation and throughout the world.
