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It's Not Your Grandparents' Labor Union

Judy Taylor, a TWA flight attendant based in New York, sums up the sentiments of thousands of stranded travelers as she sits on her baggage at Boston's Logan Airport, July 8, 1966, after the start of the nationwide strike of five major airlines.
Bob Daugherty
/
AP
Judy Taylor, a TWA flight attendant based in New York, sums up the sentiments of thousands of stranded travelers as she sits on her baggage at Boston's Logan Airport, July 8, 1966, after the start of the nationwide strike of five major airlines.

A potential bus drivers strike and a new union for home health care workers are just two of the stories that have recently raised the profile of organized labor in Vermont. But unions have significantly fewer members now than at their peak in the 1950s, and their organizing strategies have also changed.

On the next Vermont Edition, we’ll look at national trends in labor unions, and how Vermont workers fit into that picture. Our guest is Dartmouth professor Marc Dixon, who studies national union trends, and we'll hear from members of various unions that are active in Vermont.

Also in the program, the snow and cold have forestalled maple season so far this year. We talk with Matt Gordon, executive director of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association, about what that means for tapping trees and getting a good run of sap when spring finally does arrive. 

And VPR's Angela Evancie takes us to a Burlington bar where patrons race each other on stationary bikes. Yes, this really is a thing.

Broadcast live on Wed., March 12, 2014; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Patti is an integral part of VPR's news effort and part of the team that created Vermont Edition. As executive producer, Patti supervises the team that puts Vermont Edition on the air every day, working with producers to select and research show ideas, select guests and develop the sound and tone of the program.
One in five Vermonters is considered elderly. But what does being elderly even mean — and what do Vermonters need to know as they age? I’m looking into how aging in Vermont impacts living essentials such as jobs, health care and housing. And also how aging impacts the stuff of life: marriage, loss, dating and sex.
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