Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
BURLINGTON – Hundreds of sign-bearing protesters thronged to Battery Park on Labor Day with a shared message: “Don’t mourn, organize.”
Plastered on posters and printed on the backs of event organizers, the statement was inspired by labor activist and songwriter Joe Hill. Attendees followed in Hill’s footsteps as they protested against the Trump Administration.
“This is a moment for the labor movement to begin to flex its muscles,” said Ashley Smith, one of the event’s organizers. “If migrant workers don’t work, the dairy farms don’t function. Construction doesn’t get done. If the nurses don’t work, the hospitals can’t function. That’s our tremendous social power in the organized working class.”
The protesters, including representatives from a plethora of local activism groups, marched down Church Street and headed to the statehouse, protesting the federal budget cuts jeopardizing millions nationwide. They advocated for safer working conditions, increased wages, insurance coverage and proper representation at the negotiation table for those demands.
Smith is a member of the National Writers’ Union and the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation. He explained that many Vermont labor groups came together last May during the May Day parade and continued to jell during the No Kings rally in June.
He said that a lack of organization is the biggest challenge for the movement.
“It’s easy to mobilize individuals for a protest, but it’s much harder to organize those people into trade unions, into social organizations,” Smith said.
“That’s our task right now — mobilizing to organize,” he said. “There’s power in mobilizing together. An injury to one is an injury to all, and solidarity is the only way to win.”
That solidarity was present during the march. Parents pushed strollers adorned with Ukrainian and Palestinian flags. College students, veteran protesters and first-timers chanted, “The people, united, will never be defeated.” Attendees were united against Trump’s policies, with many protesting his “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed on July 4.
The bill will cut approximately $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade — threatening nearly 15 million Americans’ insurance coverage and 500,000 jobs in healthcare. Medicaid is also the fourth largest source of funding for public schools and the cuts endanger 70% of that funding for K-12 programs.
In Vermont, where one in four residents is over the age of 60 and the education system was withheld $26 million in July, many attendees said they felt a need to act now for the sake of the state’s future.
“We can’t sit on the couch anymore,” said Reid Willis, a protester at the march.
“With the cutbacks in federal funds, I see it in education. I don’t have children in the system anymore,” Willis said. “But it’s important for older people to look beyond our lifetime for our children and our grandchildren.”
Nicole DiVita and Jacob Berkowitz described the difficulties Vermont healthcare workers are experiencing as a result of the budget cuts. Divita is president of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals and Berkowitz is the president of the UVM Medical Center Support Staff United.
“I see it everyday at the hospital,” Berkowitz said. “Staffing crises are getting worse, violence in the emergency department is rampant. I’ve worked in the staffing office for five years and the staff burnout and nurse turnover is crazy.”
DiVita also explained how the budget cuts create a “positive feedback loop.”
“We’re being asked to do more with less,” she said. “We’re being downstaffed, shifts are getting cancelled and patients come to us sicker because their access to care has been affected. They’re coming in sicker than what they would’ve been if they had gotten the care that they should have.”
Despite their struggles, many attendees strove to remain positive. The march concluded back at Battery Park, and attendees joined in on a massive group picnic.
People danced and ate fresh cooked breakfast items from Blaine Paxton’s cook stand. Equipped with a spatula and chef’s hat, put the message on his sign: “We eat authoritarians for breakfast.”
Many event organizers said they felt inspired by the march’s turnout and hope to see similar turnout at their October 25th summit at Winooski High School.
“We have to be hopeful about the future,” Willis said. “And as bad as it may get, I will continue to work towards turning us around towards more democratic ways of being. We have to start fighting, and this is a step in the right direction.”