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Friday’s May Day demonstrations scheduled across the state have a new urgency this year, according to organizers, who say that “essential” workers in Vermont are facing a crisis unlike any other.
“The main focus of May Day is to support essential workers,” said David Van Deusen, president of Vermont’s AFL-CIO. “We need a new deal for workers, period.”
Three “caravan” demonstrations are scheduled in different parts of the state in South Burlington, Brattleboro and the Upper Valley. Van Deusen said demonstrators will be showing up via car and travel as a group to different workplaces where specific workers’ concerns will be discussed.
Van Deusen said during these International Workers Day actions, attention will be turned to the efforts state legislators are formulating to support workers. Van Deusen said he supports the current hazard pay proposal moving through the Senate that would give essential workers up to a $1,000 grant per month for a two-month period between mid-March to mid-May.
But he thinks it should be extended and more money should be added on to the current $60 million plan. But this is only one element of a “people’s bailout” that Van Deusen said the state of Vermont desperately needs to invest in after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We will find out who our friends and enemies are,” Van Deusen said. “Those who double down on neoliberal policies will not be looked at as a friend of labor.”
Organizers will also be pushing for more support for undocumented workers. Will Lambek of Migrant Justice said demonstrators will be advocating for a program pitched to legislators that would provide undocumented workers stimulus checks from funds the state received from the federal government. Undocumented workers were not eligible for the stimulus checks.
As the first day of the month, May Day aligns with when many Vermonters’ rent payments are due. Both Van Deusen and Lambek say they’re not aware of any large scale rent strikes being organized in Vermont for the month of May.
Elsewhere around the country rent strikes are commencing. In New York City, some are theorizing tenants are organizing one of the largest rent strikes in history.
The Burlington Tenants Union is rallying support for a rent strike in the city. The organization’s website is calling for tenants to sign a pledge to strike by May 1. If the pledge receives 1,000 signatures, the strike will commence.
The union has not responded to requests for comment about the strike or how many people have so far signed the pledge.
Many are still struggling to pay rent, Lambek said. He pointed to new data released by the Champlain Housing Trust that it saw an 8-10% loss in rent revenue during April. The trust expects this loss to worsen to 20-25% into the summer.
“The reality is whether it’s coordinated or not,” Lambek said, referring to a rent strike, “masses of people did not pay in April and will not pay in May.”
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