Senate adopts constitutional amendment to enshrine right to collectively bargain

The Vermont Senate on a unanimous roll call adopted a proposed constitutional amendment that would add a right to collectively bargain to the State Constitution.

Senator Harrison, the reporter for the Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Committee, told colleagues the amendment would “provide that citizens of the State have a right to collectively bargain,” and said the committee removed language requiring dues collection after legal review raised compelled‑speech concerns. The chamber voted 29–0 to amend the proposal and then 29–0 to adopt the amended proposal and request the concurrence of the House.

The amendment would add Article 23, affirming that employees may organize or join a labor organization to negotiate wages, hours and working conditions and that no law shall be adopted that interferes with or diminishes those rights. Senator Harrison said the change is designed to protect Vermont workers from legal and legislative changes elsewhere and cited testimony from labor leaders and academic research on unions’ community impacts.

Supporters repeatedly framed the measure as a protection of existing rights rather than a mandate. The reporter noted the committee deliberately excised a dues‑collection clause from the text after concerns that the language could face constitutional challenge as compelled speech.

Under the constitutional amendment process, the Senate’s adoption now goes to the House; for the amendment to become part of the constitution it must pass both chambers again in the next biennium and then be ratified by voters in November 2026. The Senate took the roll calls under rules requiring that constitutional proposals and their amendments be read and voted on by roll call.

The Senate president said the adoption will be transmitted to the House for concurrence; there was no recorded floor opposition in the Senate vote.