Vermont Construction Company has announced a partnership with a Minneapolis-based nonprofit, the Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council, to ensure fair treatment of its workers and subcontractors. The nonprofit will oversee the company’s job sites and housing for workers, ensuring adherence to basic labor and housing rights standards. This partnership follows violations issued by the town of Colchester in December, which cited the company for housing workers in "grossly hazardous and unsafe" conditions.
The collaboration marks the first agreement of its kind in Vermont's construction industry, an area that relies heavily on immigrant labor. According to Will Lambek of Migrant Justice, the agreement will establish accountability for workers within the labor contracting chain. "All the work sites are getting audited, any housing provided to subcontractors is getting audited if it’s provided as a condition of employment, and then if there’s a subcontractor that is not abiding by the program’s code of conduct, Vermont Construction Company would be made aware of that and they would no longer be able to do business with that subcontractor," Lambek explained.
Doug Mork, executive director of the Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council, confirmed the nonprofit’s role in monitoring the company’s operations, with the hope of formalizing a legally binding agreement before the spring construction season. Mork noted that the partnership is still in its early stages: "We’re at the very beginning. We do not yet have a long-term agreement that really lays out exactly how this is going to work," he said.
This partnership follows a series of violations against Vermont Construction Company in December, when Colchester officials found the company housing workers in unsafe conditions. One such location was deemed structurally unsafe, with no fire safety measures or smoke detectors, and violations related to electrical safety. A separate violation discovered in September reported similar issues at another site housing 60 seasonal workers.
After these violations were brought to light, Vermont Construction Company reached out to Migrant Justice, expressing interest in adopting Vermont's Milk with Dignity program for the construction industry. Lambek referred them to the Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council, which operates a similar initiative in Minnesota.
Tatum Stocker, a spokesperson for Vermont Construction Company, declined to comment on the partnership, stating that the company would address questions at the scheduled press conference.
Mork shared that the nonprofit has worked closely with contractors in the Twin Cities to establish codes of conduct for workers and has partnered with municipalities on publicly funded building projects. He hopes to expand the model in Vermont and sign additional agreements with other construction companies, building on existing frameworks like Migrant Justice and the Milk with Dignity Standards Council.
"For this model to work, we need a worker organization on the ground that’s really engaging with workers," Mork added, as the nonprofit plans to staff individuals who can conduct audits of job and housing sites.