Statements by Burlington Mayoral, City Council
and School Commissioner Candidates Candidates
from the Working People's Survey 2006

The Vermont Livable Wage Campaign surveyed all candidates for office (by mail, e-mail and telephone). VLWC is a non-partisan non-profit organization. We do not endorse candidates. The results are only for educational purposes to help inform voters during Town Meeting Day. We asked two main questions:

• Question One: Would you support livable wages for Burlington school support staff workers in the FY 2008 school budget? If not next year, what commitment can you offer to working towards tangible goals for livable wages for all school workers?
   

• Question Two: Would you support UVM students’ campaign for fair employment standards (livable wages for all UVM workers, responsible contractor policies for all construction contracts, and freedom to organize a union)?

Mayoral Candidates

LOUIE THE COWMAN BEAUDIN
No response to date.

KEVIN CURLEY
Question One: As a Burlington City Councilor I voted in support of resolution that urged the Burlington School District to pay a livable wage to its support staff.   As mayor, I will continue to support the livable wage concept.

Question Two: Generally speaking, I am in support of the Livable Wage concept as a quality of life issue.  The right to organize unions is protected by law.  I will always be available to consider Livable Wage issues as they affect the City of Burlington.

BOB KISS
Question One: Yes, I support the livable wage campaign to achieve a livable wage for all Burlington School System paraeducators in the 2008 budget.  If this is not achieved in the 2008 budget, action in the 2008 budget should reflect tangible progress toward this goal along with a conscious plan to achieve it within a finite time period.

Question Two: Yes, I support the student campaign for fair employment standards at UVM.

HINDA MILLER
Question One & Two: Yes. I support livable wage for all. I have listened to many people over my 30 years in Burlington. I’ve found that we share a vision of a thriving economy where there is no worry about job loss and opportunity. As a businesswoman, I created hundred of jobs for working families. And, as your state senator, I have worked to raise the minimum wage and link it to automatic cost of living increases. An economically sustainable community needs to help existing business expand, and magnetize new, talented entrepreneurs.

The City has committee to paying livable wages. We adopted an ordinance establishing the same wage standard for employees of firms with service contracts with the City. The Mayor has no direct authority in either matter before the schools or UVM. However, Burlington has set a strong example when it comes to livable wages and would continue to do so under a Miller administration. 

LOYAL PLOOF
Question One: As a school board member I was one of the board members who fought for livable wages for our paras. I also co-sponsored a livable wage resolution. I was disappointed when it lost 7-5. This is after everyone at the retreat said they all support livable wage and made it one of the goals. As mayor I will make livable wage happen for all support staff. I will work with the board to make sure this happens this year. I think our support staff have waited to long. Once I take the office I will be on the phone to set up a meeting with the school department to push livable wages.

Question Two: I would support efforts for fair employment standards. My mother was a long time worker at UVM as a house keeper. She worked for over 20 years and her wages were just over $11/hour. I will work hard to put a stop to this. It is time for UVM to give back to the community by respecting the workers and giving fair wages. I will look forward to working with the students on this as mayor.

City Council Candidates

IAN CARLETON                                                                                                                  WARD 1
No response.

CHERYL MCDONOUGH                                                                                                   WARD 2
Question One & Two: Absolutely for both—[I] see this as a moral issue as well as a fiscal one. In effect, taxpayers contribute to these public employers, then tax dollars support programs that provide safety net for their employees. If not on any other level, taxpayers should be outraged about financing piracy.

CLARENCE DAVIS                                                                                                               WARD 3
Question One: I would support a livable wage for school staff and would urge the council to extend it to them.
Question Two: Yes, I would support this campaign.

JODY MESICK                                                                                                                     WARD 3
Question One:I am, have been, and always will be in favor of a livable wage for Burlington’s support staff. My wife’s cousin is a paraeducator at J.J. Flynn School, so I know first hand how underpaid our paraeducators are for the hard work and service that they provide.

Question Two: I would be in favor of supporting the UVM’s students’ campaign for fair employment standards and if elected would do my best to persuade UVM officials to make it happen.

RUSSELL ELLIS                                                                                                                WARD 4
Question One & Two: Yes to both. It just seems to me to be elementary justice to provide a livable wage to anyone who has a full time job. It is a shame that we have to make laws about this in order to be sure that we all treat one another the way we should. It is my understanding that the school board is going to seriously deal with this matter when the paraeducators’ contract comes up for renewal.

KEVIN KING                                                                                                                         WARD 4
No response.

BILL KEOGH                                                                                                                       WARD 5
He said he does not respond to surveys.

TOM LICATA                                                                                                                        WARD 6
Declined to respond.

BARBARA PERRY                                                                                                             WARD 6
No response.

ELLIE BLAIS                                                                                                                        WARD 7
No response.

JOANNA COLE                                                                                                                   WARD 7
Question One & Two: I believe in livable wages for all adult workers as a matter of justice. It would be admirable for our public institutions to model the way for the private sector with a plan for incremental increases until livable wages are reached. The lack of a livable wage demoralizes people and puts a burden on the taxpayer. I look forward to the day when minimum wage matches livable wage.

PAUL DECELLES                                                                                                              WARD 7
No response.

JEREMY RYAN                                                                                                                   WARD 7
Question One: I believe that if someone is doing a great job, we should pay what we can afford to retain them. I also believe in the right to work. If someone wants to work and is lacking in skills, but willing to learn and work at a lower wage, we should allow them the opportunity. I dislike mandatory policy that would exclude people from serving our community.

Question Two: I strongly support the right to unionize. However, I also believe employers should have the right to contract with whom they please. Open shop unions benefit everyone as they allow employer sot chose who they want to work with and union members strive to their fullest potential. The union then acts as a brand, telling employers that members are of high quality.

School Commissioner Candidates
Read the responses from the Livable Wage Survey to school commissioner candidates during the 2005 campaign (includes current commissioners). Also read the voting record from the November Livable Wage Resolution vote from Nov 8, 2005.

KATHERINE CHASAN                                                                                          WARD 1
Question One & Two: “Yes”

CHRISTOPHER HAESSLY                                                                                  WARD 2
Question One: Livable wages aren’t something to be negotiated. They’re a basic human right that ought to be extended to all workers. As a long time advocate for working people, I will continue to press for a resolution that guarantees livable wages to all school district employees.

Question Two: I believe that all workers deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and strongly support all efforts to organize UVM workers in pursuit of livable wages and responsible contractor policies.

SCOTT MOODY                                                                                                       WARD 2
Question One: As a Burlingtonian, and now as a candidate for School Board, I have and still do support the need for a Livable Wage for everyone in our city. I see this as a universal issue, not just any particular place of employment. People should earn a wage that keeps up with the cost of living and allows them to maintain a household and not have to work several jobs to make ends meet. As a member of the Burlington School Board, I will support a Livable Wage for our paraeducators and support staff. Like our great teachers here in Burlington, they also are responsible for the well being of our children while they are at school and deserve to be compensated as such.

Question Two: UVM support staff also deserve a Livable Wage as well. Again, this is an all around issue. I have no problem with those folks looking to form, or join with an established Union on campus.

JULIA CURRY                                                                                                         WARD 3
Question One: I support funding livable wages for all Burlington school support staff in the FY08 school budget. I believe that paying livable wages is a moral necessity, not just a nice idea, and that we need to do it even in the face of difficult budgeting challenges.

Question Two: I also support the campaign for fair employment standards at UVM, covering both direct employees of the University and also workers affected by construction and other contracts. I have been actively involved in working toward both of these goals, turning out to rallies, mobilizing other folks, testifying before the School Board. I am a former union organizer and a current member of the Vermont Workers’ Center Steering Committee. It is clear to me that our society needs to restore working people’s standard of living, which really means that as working people we need to demand our due. We need good jobs with family-sustaining wages and the right to unionize without interference in order to live decent lives.

KATE STEIN                                                                                                                        WARD 3
Question One: As a former paraeducator, I struggled to make ends meet. I had a second job at a bagel store and a third as a freelance music teacher and I still had to live with my parents. I believe in a livable wage for all Burlington School District support staff.

Question Two: No response.

KATHERINE CONNOLLY                                                                                     WARD 4
No response.

TAMARA MUSGROVE                                                                                           WARD 5
Question One: To say that I would support livable wages for support staff in the Burlington School District is an understatement. It is time for the school board to acknowledge that a livable wage is a basic human right, one that its employees deserve and are entitled to.

Question Two: I hold the same belief for fair employment standards for UVM workers. We, as public employers, need to set the example for others. If not us, then who, and if not now, then when?

AMY WERBEL                                                                                                         WARD 5
Question One: I will do all I can if re-elected as a Burlington School Commissioner to make significantly higher wages a reality -- not just rhetoric -- for our paraeducators, custodial and food services staff. 

Question Two: No response.

BARBARA CROOK                                                                                                WARD 6
No response

THOMAS FLUERY                                                                                                   WARD 7
Question One: I support the implementation of an intiative to pay support staff members of the Burlington School District a livable wage in FY2008. As a former member of the Vermont House in the 1990s, I co-sponsored a resolution in favor of the livable wage for all workers then, and I see it even more important an issue now. I voted for the Livable Wage Resolution that came before the Burlington Board of School Commissioners last year and continue to support this initiative. At the very least, I’d like to see the board adopt a phase-in plan if it deemed it too costly to implement such a plan in one year.

Question Two: Yes, as a Burlington resident and alumnus of UVM, but not in my role as a Burlington School Commissioner. Out of a sense of fairness and justice, I would hope my alma mater would be for all workers a caring and compassionate employer, but in my role as a member of the Burlington Board of School Commissioners, I do not have the authority to take a position on this issue.