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Prop 3: What Vermont Voters Need to Know

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The First Amendment and federal law already protect Vermonters’ rights to organize, join a union, and bargain collectively for wages, hours, and conditions of employment.

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Prop 3 goes much further. Rather than simply protecting these existing rights, it would put collective bargaining rights in the Vermont Constitution and permanently limit the Legislature’s ability to change how the state governs unions.

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  • Lawmakers will not be able to limit what unions can demand to negotiate.

  • Lawmakers will not be able to limit strikes by government workers.

  • Lawmakers will not be able to give private-sector workers the freedom to choose whether to financially support a union.

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Vote "NO" on Prop 3 to protect Vermont Employees and Taxpayers

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The amendment would add the following language to the Vermont Constitution:

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“That employees have a right to organize or join a labor organization for the purpose of collectively bargaining with their employer through an exclusive representative of their choosing for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours, and working conditions and to protect their economic welfare and safety in the workplace. Therefore, no law shall be adopted that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to collectively bargain with respect to wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and workplace safety, or that prohibits the application or execution of an agreement between an employer and a labor organization representing the employer’s employees that requires membership in the labor organization as a condition of employment.”

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Labor law affects more than unions and their members. It can affect:

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  • Worker choice: Whether employees can choose whether to join or financially support a union.

  • Taxpayers: How public-sector compensation, healthcare and other benefits are negotiated.

  • State finances: How lawmakers respond to rising pension and healthcare costs.

  • Economic growth: Whether Vermont can consider policies such as right-to-work laws in the future to boost the economy.

  • Legislative flexibility: Whether future lawmakers can change labor policy as Vermont’s economy and workforce change.

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Prop 3 and Right to Work

One of the most significant consequences of Prop 3 is that it would permanently close the door on right-to-work in Vermont.

A right-to-work law does not prohibit unions or collective bargaining. It simply prevents an employer and union from making union membership or payment of union dues a condition of employment. Workers can still join a union, participate in collective bargaining and pay dues if they choose. The difference is that the choice belongs to the worker.

If adopted, Vermont’s Constitution would prohibit any law that prohibits an agreement requiring union membership as a condition of employment. In other words, Vermont could not later decide to give workers the freedom to choose whether supporting a union is a condition of keeping their job.

Right-to-work laws are associated with:

  • higher employment

  • higher labor-force participation

  • Higher share of employment for manufacturing 

  • Higher population growth and net inward commuting

  • Lower childhood poverty

  • Greater upward economic mobility

  • Wages and overall labor compensation are not lower on average in right-to-work areas. 
     

That does not mean right-to-work is the only factor driving economic growth, or that every right-to-work state will experience identical results. But for a state facing population decline and an aging workforce, that is a policy choice worth preserving for future lawmakers.

Prop 3 and Affordability

Prop 3 also has financial implications because such a large portion of Vermont’s workforce is employed by state and local governments, where collective bargaining determines important components of compensation (including wages, healthcare and retirement benefits) that ultimately affect taxpayers.

Vermont already faces significant long-term obligations for public employee pensions and retiree healthcare. At the same time, healthcare costs continue to rise, putting additional pressure on government budgets and employee benefit programs.

Future lawmakers may need to consider new approaches to public-sector compensation and benefits, including changes to health insurance, retirement benefits or other terms of employment.
Prop 3 would add a constitutional limitation to that process. Its language says that no law may “interfere with, negate, or diminish” collective bargaining rights.

That creates uncertainty about how far the Legislature could go in restructuring policies that affect collective bargaining. 

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