Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
On May Day, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler visited Vermont, where she witnessed the passage of a historic constitutional amendment and attended a May Day rally on the State House lawn. Proposal 3 would enshrine the right to form a union and collectively bargain into the state constitution, just as Illinois did in 2022.
The Vermont House took the final legislative action last week needed to make this a reality by passing the amendment in a landslide 125–15 vote. This effort has been a four-year legislative process, with the last step being a ballot measure that Vermont voters will decide in November 2026. President Shuler sat in the gallery with Vermont union leaders for this exciting moment in state history and was introduced to the entire House by Vermont Worker's Caucus co-chair Rep. Conor Casey. After the vote, more than 1,500 people gathered on the State House lawn in Montpelier for the Vermont State Labor Council's May Day rally.