WASHINGTON – AFT Vermont, a state-wide union representing five thousand higher education and healthcare professionals, today endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for president following an overwhelming vote by participating union members.

The union emphasized Sen. Sanders’s longtime and consistent support for working people and organized labor, which he has demonstrated by walking picket lines, supporting organizing drives and contract fights, and championing legislation to strengthen unions in the face of attacks on organized labor. The union also expressed deep support for the Senator’s broader policy agenda and track record, with a focus on legislation that lifts up the working class such as universal healthcare, making card check the law of the land, and tuition-free public colleges and universities.

“There are very few other elected officials who have done all that Bernie has done for AFT Vermont and the labor movement,” said Deb Snell, President of AFT Vermont. “Senator Sanders has always been a strong supporter of the goals of our union, including free college tuition, ending the nursing shortage, and raising the standard of living for all Vermonters. For this reason and many others, our union members voted overwhelmingly to endorse Senator Sanders as the next President of the United States.”