A Miracle at the Q House

On a beautiful bright Saturday morning in the Dixwell community one can see residents,Alders,children,artists,elected officials, contractors and builders all gathered around one of New Haven's oldest landmarks "The Q House", a longtime community center that offered service options to the entire New Haven community. The historic community center was forced unfortunately to close its doors in 2003 due to a lack of funding.

The gathering was greeted by Alder Jeanette Morrison(D-22), whose countless efforts and promise to see a new community center led her on a hard fought campaign to start a "New Q-House" Committee and bring together Gov. Malloy, Mayor Toni Harp, residents, and community groups to make this dream a reality.

Youth from the YCL, New Elm City Dream, and other groups had organized marches for the Q House, and fought to keep Alder Morrison in office to keep the project on track. As a result of their hard work, these youth were invited to sit on the current Q House planning committee.

Morrison explained how the dedicated commitment finally paid off when the state granted the neighborhood 15.5 million dollars to complete the project. The building contractors of the project agreed to offer certain construction jobs to  community residents.

The demolition will start this summer and will be completed in the fall. Construction is scheduled to begin in spring of 2017. A passionate prayer was given by Alder Richard Furlow,Ward 27, followed by a lovely rendition of "Lift Every Voice" by Alder Jill Marks, Ward 28, and a moment of silence and homage to Regina Winters one of the first African-American women architects who designed the new Q-House design but suddenly died of cancer.

Introductions of Q House building committee members, remarks from Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman and Tyisha Walker, president of the New Haven Board Of Alders, and a tribute to original Q House members were all part of the program. In a passionate speech Mayor Harp said the new facility will have a state of the art library and heath care services, gymnasium, and an African American museum.

The crowd  made it's way to a ceremonial painting on the Q House wall by artist Norman ''KTro" Storm and local community kids, which everyone then proceeded to sign lovely messages on.

Solidarity with workers at Zane's Cycles

Workers and community members lined the street to protest exploitative practices outside Zane’s Cycles at 330 East Main St. in Branford last weekend. Chanting "No Justice, No Bike!" the solidarity protest called on owner Chris Zane to treat workers with dignity and respect.

In September 2015, workers at Zane’s Cycles facility located a 182 Cedar St. in Branford voted overwhelmingly, under federal labor law, to bargain collectively for a workplace contract. The workers elected UFCW Local 919 to represent them in contract negotiations. Since then, Chris Zane has only agreed to meet eight times to negotiate a contract with the workers. That’s only eight negotiating sessions in eight months!!

Among the issues workers want to address, which Zane has refused to reasonably discuss, are the need for:

- A clean, sanitary break room. Workers eat their lunch in the dirty, greasy work area were they assemble thousands of bikes for Zane.

- Adequately heated and cooled working area. Workers say it is often too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer...many have to wear coats while they work in the winter.

- Paid sick days. Workers lose money when they or a family member is sick.

- Paid vacation days. Workers can’t even count on a paid vacation after so much hard work.

- Paid time off to mourn the death of a family member. Zane doesn't pay a worker who has to go to a funeral for their family member.

Chris Zane exploits the workers who make him rich! Because of his behavior Zane’s Cycles has been charged with violating federal labor law. The charges are currently before the National Labor Relations Board.

The Connecticut AFL-CIO issued the following appeal for solidarity with workers at Zane's Cycles:
"Workers at Zane’s Cycles stood up to management and voted to join UFCW Local 919 over nine months ago, but the owner still refuses to bargain in good faith.

"The workers now need your help to get a first contract. Call owner Chris Zane and tell him to stop exploiting his workers!

"Chris Zane engages in bad faith bargaining and unfair labor practices. Tell Chris to sit down with the workers and negotiate in good faith by calling him at 203-483-2620."

DUE Justice Coalition Protests Austerity Budget

A coalition of union, community and civil rights groups that fought hard against an austerity budget in Connecticut, rallied outside the Connecticut Democratic Progress Dinner in Hartford.

"Legislators who supported the recently passed job-killing state budget need to know that the service cuts and layoffs it will cause hurt all working families," said the Democracy, Unity and Equality (DUE) Justice Coalition. Teachers, state workers and other unions rallied alongside community allies to make clear the need for a different approach in state budgets to reflect the values of fairness and equality. The coalition made many suggestions of how the state could gain revenue from large corporations and the top 1% who benefited from the economic recovery.

The legislature and Governor enacted a budget that will cause layoffs of at least 2,500 workers, cutting the services they have provided to the public. " This isn’t just about union jobs,” said AFSCME Council 4 Director Sal Luciano. “It’s about the future of Connecticut.”

Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance

Rallies to End Immigration Raids

In response to reports of planned deportation raids targeting immigrant mothers, children and families who fled violence in Central America after January 2014, the CT Immigrants Rights Alliance (CIRA) rallied in front of the Hartford Federal Building where the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration Customs Enforcement are located. The rally demanded  an end to raids, an end to all deportations and expansion of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Central American Refugees.

“Criminalizing, tracking down and deporting people into violence, poverty and death is wrong, whether it is one of us or a million of us” said Renato Muguerza, a community organizer with CIRA

The rally called on the Obama administration and ICE to create broad relief for refugees from Central America instead of deportation raids against people fleeing extreme violence and poverty. They asked the administration to reopen these cases, give full due process with full access to counsel and grant proper relief.

The rally was followed by a teach-in about how to defend your rights in case of an immigration raid. Similar "Know Your Rights" sessions will be held around the state.