Press release: Vermont Construction Company to join Building Dignity and Respect Program

Vermont Construction Company has signed an agreement of cooperation announcing its commitment to become the first Vermont builder to join a worker-driven program monitoring and enforcing labor and housing standards. The commitment will bring the Building Dignity and Respect Program to Vermont’s fast-growing construction industry and provide much-needed protections to a sector lacking in regulation.

Surrounded by workers and speaking at a signing ceremony outside the Colchester offices of Vermont Construction Company (VCC), Co-Founder David Richards said: “The Vermont Construction Company is proud to support efforts to improve the welfare of construction workers in Vermont. As an inaugural member, VCC has signed a formal Term Sheet and will help support a third-party auditor to review subcontractor pay, safety, and housing. We welcome the oversight and guidance of the Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council.”

José Ignacio, a construction worker, joined the owners of Vermont Construction Company at the podium. Speaking in Spanish, he lauded the commitment: “Vermont needs more construction workers to address the state’s housing crisis, but many of us who find work in the industry do not have the protections we need to keep ourselves safe or prevent abuse. We are glad that Vermont Construction is making this commitment to the workers on its projects, and we will join together to make sure that workers are treated with the respect and dignity that we all deserve.”

The Building Dignity and Respect (BDR) Program was born out of the vision of construction workers in the Minneapolis-based workers’ center Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL) to address widespread abuse to wages, safety, and retaliation. CTUL has worked to highlight the current abuses in the industry and is calling on multi-family housing developers in the Twin Cities to join the program. The organization has recently secured commitments from two non-profit developers.

Douglas Guerra, construction worker and CTUL Board President, welcomed the agreement with Vermont Construction: “We have spent the past five years advocating for the BDR Program to ensure basic dignity and respect for all construction workers in the Twin Cities metro area, and we are excited to see the work expand. The BDR Program addresses labor abuses that the existing system has failed to address. It is a win-win for both the workers and the companies that join the program. Workers can expect decent conditions and fair pay, while construction companies can be at the forefront of a system that will change the entire industry.”

The BDR Program is based on a Code of Conduct developed with construction workers to protect against wage theft, physical and sexual abuse, and human trafficking and to ensure access to safe working conditions and fair pay. The Program is coordinated and implemented by the Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council (BDC), an independent, non-profit organization.

Developers and general contractors enter legally-binding Program Participation Agreements with BDC that require all contractors to abide by the Program’s Code of Conduct. In addition to independent monitoring, workers are empowered as frontline monitors and defenders of their own rights, with strict protections against retaliation. Complaints are swiftly investigated, resulting in meaningful remedies for workers, and companies are prohibited from working with contractors who refuse to come into compliance with the Code.

Doug Mork, Executive Director of BDC, spoke at Tuesday’s press conference: “We are eager to partner with Vermont Construction Company and bring Building Dignity and Respect to Vermont. We applaud VCC for taking this step and look forward to working together with the company and with construction workers in Vermont to adapt the Program to the needs of the community.”

The BDR Program is based on the principles of Worker-driven Social Responsibility, a social change model where corporations at the top of supply chains or labor contracting chains adopt legally-binding, standard-setting agreements with a human rights organization. Agreements require those corporations to impose market consequences on suppliers or contractors who violate workers’ rights. Vermont-based human rights organization Migrant Justice has adapted those same principles to the dairy industry to create the Milk with Dignity Program, which currently enforces a farmworker-authored Code of Conduct on over 50 dairy farms in the supply chain of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.

Marita Canedo, the Milk with Dignity Program Coordinator at Migrant Justice, celebrated Tuesday’s agreement: “In December, Vermont Construction walked into our office and asked how they could partner to ensure dignified treatment of workers across their labor contractors. We were happy to introduce them to our long-time partners at Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council, and we are ready to work together to implement this Program in a way that meets the unique challenges of Vermont’s construction industry. We call on other construction companies to follow the bold example set by Vermont Construction Company and join the Building Dignity and Respect Program.”

With the agreement of cooperation signed, BDC and Migrant Justice will work to adapt the Program’s Code of Conduct to local conditions, focusing on housing provided by labor sub-contractors. BDC will also staff a Vermont-based office of investigators dedicated to monitoring labor and housing standards and ensuring compliance. Parties said that they expected the Program to launch within months.

Workers in Minnesota see the agreement as a boon to their efforts to bring developers into the BDR Program. Angeles Robledo, CTUL Leader and member of the Women in Construction Committee, called for companies to follow Vermont Construction’s lead: "In the construction industry, women have been subject to silence, exclusion, and invisibility. We suffer mistreatment, sexual harassment, wage theft, and various other labor abuses. The BDR Program is designed to empower us, to be able to speak out about our rights without fear of retaliation. We want to invite developers in the Twin Cities to follow VCC´s leadership to ensure basic dignity and respect for workers. If VCC can do this, so can they."