University of Vermont Medical Center workers support Milk with Dignity program

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Members of the union Support Staff United (AFT-VT) at the University of Vermont Medical Center included a demand for their employer to join the Milk with Dignity program during contract negotiations. The program, developed by the organizing project Migrant Justice, sets labor standards for dairy farms and previously gained adoption by Ben & Jerry’s in 2017. Hospital workers linked their own efforts for improved staffing and pay to the advocacy for farmworkers, noting the hospital's role as one of the state's largest institutional dairy purchasers. Migrant Justice organizers sought this collaboration because they previously lacked the power to negotiate this change with the medical center on their own.

Consequences

If the medical center adopts the Milk with Dignity program, it could serve as a model to pressure other large regional institutions like schools and universities to follow suit. Meanwhile, the union continues to face contract negotiations amid broader industry challenges, including national staffing cuts and potential impacts from proposed changes to Medicaid and immigrant work permits.

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