Skip to content
menu
search
Labor

Why Is the AFL-CIO Going After Its Vermont Affiliate?

David Van Deusen, president of the Vermont State Labor Council, says his organization is facing investigations and threats of further action.

Maximillian Alvarez

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Drew Angerer / Getty Images

Over the past couple years, the Vermont State AFL-CIO and its membership have embraced a more democratic, rank-and-file strategy, building up bonds of solidarity with community organizations, and bringing much-needed energy into a labor council that was on the verge of dying. Instead of commending and encouraging these efforts, however, the AFL-CIO national and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka are monitoring, investigating, and threatening ​“further action” against the Vermont labor council. Why? We talk with David Van Deusen, president of the Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

Help In These Times Celebrate & Have Your Gift Matched!

In These Times is proud to share that we were recently awarded the 16th Annual Izzy Award from the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College. The Izzy Award goes to an independent outlet, journalist or producer for contributions to culture, politics or journalism created outside traditional corporate structures.

Fellow 2024 Izzy awardees include Trina Reynolds-Tyler and Sarah Conway for their joint investigative series “Missing In Chicago," and journalists Mohammed El-Kurd and Lynzy Billing. The Izzy judges also gave special recognition to Democracy Now! for coverage that documented the destruction wreaked in Gaza and raised Palestinian voices to public awareness.

In These Times is proud to stand alongside our fellow awardees in accepting the 2024 Izzy Award. To help us continue producing award-winning journalism a generous donor has pledged to match any donation, dollar-for-dollar, up to $20,000.

Will you help In These Times celebrate and have your gift matched today? Make a tax-deductible contribution to support independent media.

DONATE

Maximillian Alvarez is editor-in-chief at the Real News Network and host of the podcast Working People, available at InThe​se​Times​.com. He is also the author of The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their Lives and the Year the World Broke.

Have thoughts or reactions to this or any other piece that you'd like to share? Send us a note with the Letter to the Editor form.
More articles by Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
How Big Business Made a Sacrifice Zone out of South Baltimore
Longtime Baltimore residents on the fight for environmental justice and what it feels like to be "sacrificed" by industry.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
Baltimore Longshoreman on the Key Bridge Collapse: “It’s not surprising that this ship lost power.”
Veteran longshoreman John Blom on the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and the slow recovery ahead for port workers.
Maximillian Alvarez
LaborInterviewPodcast
In Ohio's Cancer Cluster, Workers Fight for Justice—and Transparency
“They hired the healthiest workers because it takes us longer to get sick.”
Maximillian Alvarez
Similar articles
Labor
U.S. Rail Workers Are Poised to Begin a National Strike Next Week
After rejecting an agreement brokered by the White House, railroad workers could walk off the job ahead of the busy holiday season.
Jeff Schuhrke
LaborRural America
The Working-Class Loggers Who Saved an Old-Growth Forest
Often cast as villains in the Northwest’s environmental battles, timber workers have a connection to the forest that goes far beyond jobs.
Steven C. Beda
Labor
"Definitely It's Retaliation": Starbucks Closes Unionized Store in Ithaca
A conversation with Nadia Vitek, a worker-organizer with Starbucks Workers United.
Maximillian Alvarez
Democratic Rep. Summer Lee, who at the time was a candidate for the state House, at a demonstration in Pittsburgh for Antwon Rose, who was killed by police, in 2018. Lee recently defeated her 2024 primary challenger.
Get 10 issues for $19.95

Subscribe to the print magazine.

Subscribe Now