Tell UVM Health to value hospice workers!

Hospice workers at UVM Home Health and Hospice formed a union in June for fair staffing ratios and case loads, pay equity with the rest of the UVM Health, safety protocols for night shift workers, and other essential protections. After over four months of bargaining, UVM Health is still resisting reaching a fair contract. Send a letter today to the Chair and Vice Chair of UVM Home Health and Hospice to demonstrate that the community stands with Hospice United!

Solidarity with Minnesota: Friday 1/23
Wear Blue. More info here.

Rep. Becca Balint Labor Reception
When: Monday, January 26th | 4:15 PM–5:30 PM
Where: Burlington, VT (location provided upon RSVP)
RSVP Required: Please provide your RSVP to owen@beccabalint.com

AFT Vermont Legislative Action Day
February 26th, 2026
10 am- 4 pm legislative action day; 4 pm-6 pm legislative reception
Vermont State House, Room 11
RSVP here

Optional "How to Talk to Legislator" trainings

January 27th at 6:30 pm
Zoom link

February 4th at 12:00 pm
Zoom Link

Organize, Organize, Organize. 

Interested in Learning more about becoming a Union Organizer? Want to sharpen your organizing skills? Click here to apply for Organizing Training or an Organizing Fellowship

Last Thursday, two AFT Vermont members gave testimony in the House Human Services committee about the impact cuts to emergency housing have had on our hospital Emergency Departments.

Kristen Bond-Watts, Emergency Department Nurse at Porter Hospital in Middlebury, highlighted the gravity of the situation:

“It doesn’t feel right to turn someone away who has nowhere to go. But our ER waiting room isn’t designed to be a shelter. People waiting there are exposed to contagious illnesses. Families are there during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

Recently, we had a patient spent three days in our single psychiatry-equipped room, only to reveal that their suicidal thoughts would resolve if someone could fix their broken pipes at home. Our nurses spent hours trying to connect them with resources.”

Click here to watch Kristen’s full testimony.

Amanda Meltsner, Patient Access Navigator for the Emergency Department at UVMMC, echoed Kristen’s concerns and highlighted the high cost of using Emergency Departments as shelters.

“Quite a number, I would say a large majority of the people who are unhoused, are either on medicaid, medicare, both medicaid and medicare, VA insurance, or they are just uninsured. Which means all of those visits that they are taking to our emergency department, essentially to see a doctor in order to get the OK to sleep in our department overnight…. We’re billing medicare and medicaid for those doctor hours, for those visits, for somebody to sleep in the ED. Which is not a very good use of the tax dollars we have for those people. Those dollars could be better spent in other ways.”

Click here to watch Amanda’s full testimony.

AFT Vermont members will continue to advocate for funding for emergency shelters so that we can take some of the pressure off of our Emergency Departments and ensure that our unhoused neighbors can have a safe, dedicated place to shelter from the elements.

Interested in adding your voice to this conversation? Please email lisa.gerlach@aftvermont.org 

From VTDigger:

The 135-member Brattleboro Federation of Nurses said the hospital had proposed wage increases totaling 11% over three years, only to reduce that figure during negotiations this week to no raises at all.

“They are asking the nurses basically to bail them out,” Tracy Ouellette, a nurse and union president, said upon announcing the impasse Thursday.

…. “Nurses would not be considering a strike vote if we had other real options,” Ouellette said. “If experienced nurses can’t afford to stay, and new nurses won’t come, patient care suffers and the entire community pays the price.”

BlueCross BlueShield’s new CEO takes over as insurer faces federal and statewide challenges
VTDigger, by Olivia Gieger
January 16th, 2026 

State issues warning but won’t intervene in Brattleboro hospital budget saga
VTDigger, by Kevin O’Connor
January 21st, 2026 

Video: Vermonters Struggle With Rising Health Insurance Costs, and Some Are Going Without
Seven Days, by Eva Sollburger 
January 22nd, 2026

Rising health care costs strain Vermont families as lawmakers search for solutions
WPTZ, by James Maloney
January 22nd, 2026 

Sanders, Mamdani rally with nurses on ninth day of strike
WCAX
January 20th, 2026 

Vermont Agency of Transportation proposes more layoffs as revenue sputters
VTDigger, by Shaun Robinson
January 21st, 2026 

Scott administration eyes job cuts to solve budget shortfall in transportation
Vermont Public, by Peter Hirschfeld
January 21st, 2026 

Gov. Scott pushes for ‘disciplined’ spending with $9.4 billion state budget proposal
VTDigger, by Shaun Robinson
January 20th, 2026 

Gov. Phil Scott proposes $9.4B budget that seeks to wean Vermont off pandemic-era spending
Vermont Public, by Lola Duffort and Peter Hirschfeld
January 20th, 2026 

Scott proposes $9.4B budget with property tax relief
WCAX, by WCAX News Team
January 20th, 2026 

Williston selectboard condemns ICE activities in town
MyChamplainValley, by Ben Breen
January 20th, 2026 

Vermont USCIS employees tapped to help ICE enforcement in Minnesota
VTDigger, by Auditi Guha
January 21st, 2026 

Temps to plummet as bitter cold front approaches, prompting emergency shelters to open
VTDigger, by Brendan Rose
January 22nd, 2026