 Welcome everybody to the first Scoopers United rally. I'm Rebecca Mendelsen, I use she for pronouns. I am one of the Scoopers here at Burlington, Vermont, and I'm also one of the co-organizers behind Scoopers United. We are incredibly thrilled. Great excitement today that we get to announce that Ben and Jerry's has signed the Fair Elections Principle, making them the first nationally recognized company to do so at such a large scale. This is, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. This is an exceptional achievement that speaks to just how deeply this company truly cares about social activism and we are incredibly proud of them for working with us in this manner. Today I'm also incredibly excited to introduce Richard Bessinger, who is one of the co-creators of the Fair Elections Principle, as well as just a general campaigning extraordinaire, as well as four Scoopers from Scoopers United who is speaking on our behalf. We have the amazing Tate Fallon, we have Alexa, we have Ella, and we have Izzy today. So with that, I will give it to Richard and I will let Alexa get offline. I would just like to congratulate these amazing workers who have just about unanimous support at their shop. And I'd like to recognize Ben and Jerry's because it's certainly an unusual thing in this day and age to have a corporation like Unilever, Ben and Jerry's, actually take a different stand than we've seen from Starbucks and REI and Trader Joe's. Those are companies that signal their virtue about climate justice or racial justice or whatever justice, but then they validate justice when they fire workers and fight their workers' efforts or that. We can't pick our justices in life, we can't pick them. These principles were developed a few years back by myself and a group of the former president Bethlehem Steele, Dick Schubert. And we're really proud to say that Ben and Jerry's is one of the first corporations to say yes. Starbucks' workers have asked over 300 times Howard Seltzen, Starbucks Corporation has signed and they've said no. So congratulations to the workers and congratulations to the employer. There's still a contract to negotiate and that's what we're really after. And so we all have the workers back in those negotiations. Thank you. Hargers, Hargers, you hold this on. I'll hold this down. I don't need you after I think I'm doing it. Hi everyone, my name is Tate Fallon. I use any pronouns and I'm a scooper here, Ben and Jerry's, as well as a catering lead, a kicker, shift manager, and also the change maker for the shop. Ben and Jerry's to me means community. As a change maker, I've worked with my manager, Jake on a variety of projects and efforts to improve mental health at the shop, as well as creating a more inviting work environment. Back in New Jersey, I helped start my town's mental health council and we had a cake mindset, what stood for compassion, acceptance, kindness and empathy. I wanted to bring a piece of the cake mindset when working with Ben and Jerry's, our amazing scoopers and the community. We've held a clothing drive and coordinated events with community partners to come table. We are really just getting started. We try to embody the peace, love and ice cream experience. As a change maker in the shop, I've always wanted to have the staff voices heard. Unionizing to me means a seat at the table, the opportunity to discuss a range of issues. Buddy, my name is Alexa Chinitz. I am a shift manager and catering lead at Ben and Jerry's. I've been working here for a little bit over a year. And I'm from Connecticut. I started working at Ben and Jerry's because I was drawn towards the way that they strive towards explicit values. I think that we can do a better job of embodying our company's values specifically in sustaining and uplifting the community as that we as scoopers are also a part of. I'm excited to have more of a say in some shop policies and procedures that directly affect us on shift and to do it with the assured protection from the union. And I think creating this union is a great first step towards sustaining a collective and communal Ben and Jerry's model. Thank you. Hi, I'm Ella, I use she, her pronouns and I'm a kicker and a scooper at Ben and Jerry's for over a year now. One of the things I love most about working at Ben and Jerry's is the awesome community that the staff has formed. They're the kind of people that when you go into work, no matter what mood you're in, you always leave with a smile. No matter if we have a line out the door all day, one of the dip case is broken or if we run out of ice cream, this crew can problem solve and keep slinging ice cream with smiles on their faces. The progressive nature of Ben and Jerry's as a company attracts workers of the same ideologies. People who just like Ben and Jerry are change makers. And I'm excited to use this union to shape the workplace, to meet the needs of the workers and to collaborate with management to promote the employees' wellbeing and safety. I think that Ben and Jerry's signing the Fair Election Principles shows me that they're open to having a new generation of change makers create a more collaborative work environment. And I'm so incredibly excited to be making ice cream history with all of these wonderful people. Woo! Hey, my name is Adam Franz and I'm a barista with Starbucks Workers United. Oh, sorry. America today is at a crossroads. Inequality is higher than it's been for decades with skyrocketing prices and stagnant real wages coinciding with ever increasing profits for the rich and powerful. However, across the nation, workers have not taken this challenge lying down from Amazon to Starbucks to this door right here. Workers know that they have the power that we can meet the challenge and fight back. And as we know that when we come together around a shared interest and shared problems, we can win real change in the place we spend so much of our time, the workplace. On the surface, Ben and Jerry's and Starbucks are not so different from each other. Both started in small shops, one in Washington and one here in Vermont that grew into international brands. Both have been helped along the way by a strong progressive image. In the case of Starbucks, this progressive veneer crumbled in the face of workers coming together to stand up for ourselves. In stores across the country, workers have been wrongfully terminated for organizing their co-workers, had hours cut for union activity and had benefits denied for the audacity to vote to form a union. Starbucks has so far refused to bargain in good faith and even walked away from my own stores bargaining session after only seven minutes. Their union busting has been so egregious that CEO Howard Schultz had to be hauled in front of the Senate Help Committee on threat of subpoena. I am thrilled that Ben and Jerry's has agreed to the fair election principles, but this has not just come as a favor from the company, it is a testament to the power of these people standing behind me. But even so, I hope that Ben and Jerry's agreement to these principles can be a model for companies across the country recognizing that it does, they do not have to fight against the union. They will, if they fight against the union, you know, they are going against their own best interests and they will lose. So thank you very much for doing this and solidarity forever. My name is Jazz Brisek. I'm the organizing director for Workers United Upstate New York and Vermont. And I like saying that there's no such thing as an unorganizable workplace. There's only workplaces that haven't been organized yet. And I think that Church Street is the perfect place to make that a reality. With that, I'd love to bring up Kaloma from Blackcap. Thank you, everybody. Oh my goodness. Hi, everybody. My name is Kaloma. I use they, them pronouns. Give me one moment to open my phone. Thank you to everyone for attending. I'm here to represent the workers of Blackcap Coffee and Bakery who stand in solidarity with Scoopers United. Following the unprecedented success of the Scoopers United campaign thus far, we are launching our own unionization as Blackcap Workers United. For just over six months in the environment, our managers and coworkers cultivate is truly amazing. I've grown much as an individual and I believe many of my peers could and would say the same. We organize to secure our future as Blackcap employees to ensure our workplace is an equitable, safe and sustainable place for all of us. We deserve a say in matters that directly impact us as employees of the company and through this effort, we hope to create a more collaborative partnership between us and our management. We are proud of and inspired by our neighbors here on Church Street and hope that our company will follow the example set by Ben and Jerry's when considering how to respond to our demands to be heard. Thank you very much. Woo! Woo! And friends, my name is Liz Medina and I am the Executive Director of the Vermont State Labor Council AFL-CIO which represents 13,500 union members across Vermont. We believe in a labor movement that is led by the rank and file. Workers who have formed Scoopers United right here today, exemplify each of these principles. So on behalf of our President, David Van Dusen, congratulations to you all. Kashank and Parker Kimberly came to us over a month ago. We were so excited to help them, difficult working conditions, school and other responsibilities and broken labor laws each and every obstacle. And we couldn't be happier for Scoopers United to have an employer like Ben and Jerry's in our community. Too often employers see unions as a hindrance rather than a benefit to the extent that they are willing to break the law to suppress their workers' basic human right to join together for their mutual aid and protection. And we believe things can be differently and Ben and Jerry's has shown us how we can do that. And that's why we are organizing like never before as a labor council but are broken labor laws. By passing the Vermont, protect the right to organize or proact S 102 of renewed organizing and hope among workers. Bare election principles, which are based on democracy, neutrality and respect. And we hope that other employers in Vermont and beyond will follow suit because the truth is unions are a great benefit to business and to the economy. When workers break isolation, talk to each other and build solidarity, there's a real communication and real relationship between employers and employees. And when there's real communication and real relationship, they can work better together, they can learn and grow together and they can share in their prosperity. And I'm not gonna bore you with all kinds of facts and statistics, but there's plenty to back up what I'm about to say. But when we have more unions, there's less poverty. When we have more unions, there's more democracy. When we have more unions, we have safer workplaces and more social justice. So we should all embrace workers forming unions. So I'll end with, we stand with Scoopers United. We have been there from day one and will be there for your election, for your first contract, your second contract and beyond. We are honored to stand here today and we together are union strong. Let's hear it. What are we? My name is Avel Luna. I'm an organizer with migrant justice. Migrant justice, it's a non-profit human rights organization here in the state of Vermont that was built by migrant farm workers and continues to be led by migrant farm workers. And first of all, in behalf of the migrant community of very farm workers, maintaining and sustaining the very industry in the state of Vermont, we want to congratulate every single worker across Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shops and every single person that was involved in this huge moment, this historic day and this historic victory to ensure human rights and dignity in your workplace. Second of all, we want to congratulate Ben and Jerry's for continuing to do the right thing and be a human rights champion for those in your supply chain. On October 3rd, 2017, Ben and Jerry signed on to the Milby Dignity Program to ensure dignity and respect for the people milking their cows in their supply chain. And today close to 300 workers are being covered under the program and leaving what we call the new day in the dairy industry here in the state of Vermont. Yeah, so today we're really happy to see that that new day has arrived for those in your Scoop Shops. We wish that other companies could follow on your footsteps to ensure human rights from the milking parlor to the stores. And again, congratulations to every single person involved and si se puede! Our very special guest, Senator Bernie Sanders. Historic is not much that I can add to what people think Richard pointed out earlier. You can't pick and choose the justice that you believe in. If you believe in fighting for racial justice, that's great. If you believe in fighting for climate justice, that's great. If you believe in fighting for gender justice, that's great. But at the end of the day, if you believe in justice, you have to believe in economic justice and the right of workers to form a union and to negotiate decent contracts. In this country, what we are seeing is working people saying, we need an economy that works for all, not just the few. And in order to create that economy, as you have heard, it is absolutely imperative that workers come together, form unions and negotiate decent contracts. And we are seeing that all across the country in blue-collar jobs, in white-collar jobs, on college campuses. Our job right now is to make sure that in Washington, we make it clear to the owners of Starbucks and the other union-busting companies that they cannot break the law. Workers have a right to organize and we're gonna make sure that they are able to do jobs. Now, we are proud, we are proud that in Vermont, we have a company called Ben and Jerry's. Well, Ben, Justice and Jerry, that's good. And these guys from way back when, when they first had their first shop on St. Paul at an old gas station, they have been determined to spread the gospel of social justice. And I'm very proud of the work that these workers have done in coming together to form a union. And I'm very proud that we have here in Vermont a company like Ben and Jerry's that has long stood for progressive principles, today saying they're willing to sit down and negotiate a good contract with their workers. So this is a great day for workers in Vermont and across the country. And we're very proud of all that has happened. Thank you all very much. First from the folks in person and then we can take questions on Zoom, it might be. Hi, I'm Jessica Shank and I am a scooper and chip manager at Ben and Jerry's. I think what everyone on the team is looking for is just more education and training so that we can keep ourselves, our team and the other community of Burlington safe. We want to know what to do if there is a situation in the shop where someone is using drugs and we wanna make sure that we're able to get them the help that they need in the fastest way possible. And we want to put in our contract, you know, information about what we're supposed to do in those scenarios and how to keep everybody, you know, safe and happy. This is an ice cream shop and what we want is to make people smile and we wanna make sure we can do that in any circumstance and make sure that people are okay. Ben and Jerry's did prepare a statement and they asked that I read it so I apologize, I have to read it off my phone. But we are proud to share this statement today reflecting the great progress that has been made as a result of the collective collaborative work of the scoopers at the flagship Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop in Burlington in the shop management. From the outset, we have worked together to ensure that this process is respectful and open. We appreciate the professionalism, candor and positivity that all priorities have brought to this process and we hope that this can serve as a model for collaboration in the workplace and in the future. The scoopers have shown that they are interested in our future together and that they regarded as an incredibly encouraging that they've embraced the mission and values that are deeply held at Ben and Jerry's. Ben and Jerry's is a mission and values led organization with a deep commitment to a progressive social mission. Ben and Jerry's is equally committed to innovation and constant improvement and finding new ways of working reflects these commitments. While we acknowledge that there's a significant work still in front of us, we are committed to this journey together and together we vow to remain steadfast with openness and honesty in our upcoming negotiations. We embrace one another in the collective effort to improve the experience of our scoopers and that is from Ben and Jerry's. Awesome, great question. So now the next steps is to formally recognize the union. This can either be done through a card check or it can be done through petition or an election for petition. But the next main step is to get to a bargaining contract. Apologies to everyone on Zoom. I just realized the mute issue. That's all. Apologies for that. That's our save.