Labor Issues in the Green Mountains: Striking FairPoint workers speak; Adjunct faculty unionizes

David ♦ December 18, 2014 ♦ Leave a comment

FairPoint strike: The strike against FairPoint Communications by 1,700 workers across Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire is now entering its third month. Some 300 of those striking workers live in Vermont. What’s at stake, and why are workers on strike? We talk with:

Mike Spillane, business manager, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in Vermont

Lisa Barr, an employee of FairPoint and its telecom predecessors for the last 24 years, who is on strike

Adjuncts Unite: More than 40 percent of professors at private, nonprofit colleges in Vermont work part-time. Nationally, the percentage of professors without tenure increased from 57 to 70 percent between 1993 and 2011. This fall, adjunct faculty at Champlain College, Burlington College and St. Michael’s College each voted to join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). We speak with two adjunct faculty about their working conditions and hopes for change:

Naomi Winterfalcon, adjunct professor, Champlain College

Betsy Allen-Pennebaker, adjunct professor, Champlain College