A Woodstock Early Bird informs us that Rep. Peter Welch will be making the rounds in Woodstock today, perhaps visiting the re-opened Woodstock Farmers Market which was destroyed by flood waters and which rose again like a gourmet shop phoenix in the months following.
We’re sure Rep. Welch will be on hand to congratulate those who worked and sweated so hard to bring the anchor business back to Woodstock. They deserve a lot of credit and may have done so with local, state and federal loans and compensation. The flood showed us that government assistance is not always a bad thing.
We also hope that in visiting Vermont’s small businesses, Welch finds a way to push for their continued success so that they may pass on that financial success to their employees in order to provide a living wage. Many of Vermont’s (and Woodstock’s) long-time employers are still only able to provide hourly wages of $10 to $12 hours/hours. Yes, those wages are certainly over minimum wage but in Woodstock Early Bird’s experience, that money –after 25% to 30% is taken out for taxes and such — is NEVER enough to pay for individual employees rents, self-paid health insurance, gas, heating fuel, food, clothing and so on. It is a well-known “joke” that hard-working Vermonters in our area often hold two and three jobs to make ends meet.
Woodstock Early Bird doesn’t think that’s funny. As the phrase “family values” is bandied around during this Presidential Election year, we’d like to say that the improvement of family life is directly related to people’s ability to pay their bills, experience a healthy lifestyle and spend time with their loved ones. Running our working populace into the ground does not serve Vermont or the country well.
How can you help us Rep. Peter Welch?
Julia Carlisle
Woodstock Early Bird 