VSEA.org

Most public sector unions have failed to counter the conservative message that public workers’ pensions and pay are to blame for yawning budget gaps. Too many have offered preemptive concessions, hoping to fend off more severe cuts. Too few have been willing to defend their job standards or the services they provide, much less tackle the third rail of U.S. politics—raising taxes.

But unions and allies who have called for raising taxes—on the rich, not on their fellow workers—have won public support. More often than not, they’ve succeeded at raising revenue.

Dr. Robert Pierattini is head of psychiatry at Fletcher Allen Health Care. He has long voiced concern that [Gov.] Shumlin’s plan to create a regionalized psychiatric care system would diffuse expertise and provide fewer acute care beds than the state had before Irene.
“We’re turning away a record number of people who take admission,” he told the legislators. “We’re running at the maximum census we can manage.

Dave DeBoer was a long-time VSEA activist, who worked for the Department for Children and Families in St. Albans. VSEA members may remember him from a VSEA VOICE article in 2007. Dave received a kidney donation from one of his co-workers, Janet Suker. Here’s what Dave told the VOICE at the time about Janet’s donation:

"I think that Janet’s donation is just the most wonderful thing. I’m optimistic that after the surgery, I’ll be able to go off dialysis and return to a normal life. I’ll be especially excited to be able to travel again and see my family. It’s all just so amazing!"

Rest in peace Dave.

WCAX Stories About Dave & Janet

"Restore Our Communities is a campaign to reduce the number of Vermonters in prison, end Vermont’s use of private prisons, and bring back to Vermont those incarcerated out of state."