Turning Point Labor Convention “Organizing to Win Together”

When the newly organized baristas from Corbins CornerStarbucks in West Hartford took the stage at the Connecticut AFL CIO convention, along with baristas from Starbucks in Vernon, delegates jumped to their feet in a standing ovation. The coffee shop workers, the first to win a union in Connecticut, told their stories of hardship and disillusionment that drove them to organize.

The inspiring convention, themed “Organizing to Win Together,” under the leadership of newly elected president Ed Hawthorne and Executive Vice President Shellye Davis, embodied renewed commitment to unity and solidarity for the rights of multi-racial working class families and communities.

“Working people across the state and across the country are tired of being exploited. They have been on the front lines during a global pandemic,” said Hawthorne.

“Young workers are fighting back and declaring the status quo will no longer stand...These young workers are not just the future - they are our present,” declared Hawthorne, adding that “organizing is where everything starts. We must meet this moment with solidarity and unity.”

Davis, who also serves as president of the Para Educators union in Hartford, encouraged those with experience in the labor movement to mentor younger members.

She led a plenary workshop designed to raise consciousness among white workers on the need to challenge racist influences and increase union strength. A resolution to establish committees for Racial and Economic Justice in every union local passed unanimously.

The convention celebrated a 15-year legislative victory. As of July 1, 2022 Connecticut will be the second state in the nation to prohibit corporations from requiring workers to attend anti-union captive audience meetings. The workers who had courageously shared their stories of intimidation were honored. Co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee Sen Gary Winfield and Rep Steven Stafstrom and Attorney General William Tong were presented with Workers Voice Awards.

“It's time to organize to win in the workplace, at the ballot box, at the Capitol, and for workers right to join a union,” said Hawthorne.

Acting on Resolution 1 to give full support to the Labor 2022 get out the vote program, many delegates signed up for at least five shifts of door knocking or phone banking to talk with co-workers about their needs and the high stakes of this election for workers rights.

The convention encouraged delegations to run for local office, following the example of AFT Connecticut president Jan Hochadel, candidate for State Senate in Meriden.

After interviewing candidates for state-wide office the convention made endorsements including Richard Blumenthal for US Senate, Ned Lamont for Governor, Susan Bysiewicz for Lt. Governor, William Tong for Attorney General and Maritza Bond for Secretary of State.

Poor People's Assembly Gives Hope for the Fight Ahead

 

by Jahmal Henderson

On June 18, I took the Peoples Center bus to Washington D.C to join thousands in The Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly. The rally was held to call attention to the interlocking crises of poverty, racism, the war economy and ecological devastation affecting poor and low-income people, including myself.

The diverse Connecticut group of 100 young and older activists, union workers, and Communist Party members all shared one common bond – the effects of poverty and its inequalities that touch each of us in different aspects daily.

It was my first time going to Washington D.C. I was very excited to see and learn, knowing I was a part of history by carrying on the legacy of Rev. Dr Martin King Jr's Poor People’s Campaign.

On our way we held a discussion about “what made you come?” I thought deeply of Newhallville, my home, the challenges we’ve been facing, and the battles we’ve overcome, from high crime, to equal housing, jobs, gun violence, police relations, to healthcare, that stem from systemic racism and poverty. Being in the fight only gave me a clearer sense of why I was taking this trip.

In Washington DC we joined thousands of clergy, union leaders, activists near the U.S. Capitol. Rev. William J. Barber II and an array of speakers spoke about topics like voting rights, immigration reform, abortion rights, labor rights, climate change, gun violence, housing, LGBTQ rights and the need to cut the military budget. This vast array of energy made me more appreciative of the Poor Peoples Campaign fighting all systematic injustices head on.

As the rally came to a close I looked around at the crowd thinking “what am I going to do when I get home?” Those thoughts circled back to two words “The Fight”, the fight for the change my ancestors and elders fought,  the fight for the youth and their future. That Saturday in Washington D.C. reassured me we’re all fighters for justice for the people, and we must continuee pushing forward.

As we rode back to Connecticut, we shared the day’s wonderful events, and made a promise to stand together to keep the Poor Peoples Campaign message alive in our communities, to get out the vote and fight the inequalities of poverty and injustice we face today.

Workers Rising Up for Dignity, Equality and a Future

Across Connecticut and the nation low wage workers, many young, Black, brown and white, are joining together and rising up for living wages, health care, dignity and a union. This leadership and collective fight is the hope for the future.

Just this week, 1199 NE healthcare workers and Unite Here clerical workers were among the many on New Haven Peoples Center buses going to the national Poor People's and Low Wage Workers Assembly and March on Washington and to the Polls to say “we won't be silent anymore.”

Connecticut nursing home workers joined with their sisters and brothers around the country to demand industry-wide reform with safe staffing and decent working conditions.

Women workers at a suburban clinic of Yale University voted to join Local 34 Unite Here. Graduate Hotel workers in New Haven voted to join Local 217 Unite Here and won union recognition with the support of elected officials and New Haven Rising. In West Hartford and Willimantic Starbucks workers are organziing with support of their communities.

So when FuelCell Energy CEO Jason Few thought he could do as he pleased to keep a union out of his shop he was in for a rude awakening.

The twelve workers voted to join the Operating Engineers Local 478 in April. Their pay was far below the industry standard, and no raises were in sight. Meanwhile in 2020, the CEO's pay increased 300% to $3.5 million. Upper management's raises were above 70%.

Within two weeks of winning their union, two workers were fired and another worker was pressured to resign.

The whole labor movement responded immediately with demands to reinstate the workers and recognize the union. Public pressure against union busting and a planned rally forced TEDx to disinvite Few from his scheduled appearance at their event in New Haven.

It's not okay that during the COVID pandemic, CEOs made out like bandits with recond profits, while most everyone else has been struggling to make ends meet, keep a roof over their heads and maintain health care access and care for their kids.

The inequities of institutional racism in hiring, housing, health care, policing and every aspect of life revealed in the pandemic are being challenged anew.

The leadership and solidarity of these organizing campaigns gives collective strength. As the Poor People's and Low Wage Workers' Assembly says, it's time for a Third Reconstruction, a fusion movement from the bottom up to end racism, poverty, the war economy and ecological devastation. Union rights are human rights.

Junteenth a State Holiday and Stop Solitary CT Wins the PROTECT Act

The years long effort to stop solitary confinement of incarcerated people, led by Stop Solitary CT, won passage of the PROTECT Act by the legislature, signed into law by Governor Lamont. The Legislature also established Juneteenth as a state holiday.

The new law places statutory limits on solitary confinement, provides oversight of the Connecticut Department of Correction (DOC) with a Corrections Advisory Council including formerly incarcerated people, establishes an ombudsman, and requires the DOC to report on its use of force.

Calling the bill “a giant step toward restoring the humanity lost in Connecticut's correctional system decades ago,” lead organizer Barbara Fair credited testimony from formerly incarcerated individuals who “spoke powerfully to life after unsepaable trauma and to the mental fragility it caused.”

In 2017 State Sen Gary Winfield, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, spent time in a solitary cell set up at the State Capitol to raise awareness of the inhumanity of the practice.

Also in this session, Juneteenth became a legal state holiday commemorating the day enslaved Black people in Texas were freed on June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation had declared an end to slavery.

During the debate, many legislators shared their personal histories including stories of their enslaved ancestors and of experiencing Ku Klux Klan violence.

“The shackles are still on our feet. The shackles still remain around our necks,” said Rep. Robyn Porter. “And I hope that we take an opportunity to be cognizant of that.”

“Our community faces disparities every single day. Jobs and methods are used to define and separate us so we will never achieve,” said Rep. Toni Walker. “We need to end this. We need to get up and celebrate every aspect of all of us. Juneteenth is one day that we want to have on the records as a celebration of independence from slavery.”

Responding to public outcry after the police murder of George Floyd and demands for concrete action to end racist practices, the Governor's budget proposals will now be required to indicate how they “identify and remedy past and present patterns of discrimination or inequality,” and “prevent the emergence and persistence of foreseeable future patterns of discrimination.”

Exciting Website Carries Forward the Legacy of Art Perlo

An exciting website is being launched this week carrying forward the legacy of lifelong activist and Marxist economist Art Perlo, making available his decades of contributions to the struggle for “People, Peace and Planet before Profits.” The project is designed to guide, inform and inspire grass roots organizers for social change.

Titled “Art Perlo Presente,” the website is filled with writings, videos and analysis along with an array of recipes to test out, photos to enjoy, current articles and classes, and an invitation for visitors to participate by sharing reflections and strategies toward a just society.

Art Perlo's articles on a wide range of subjects published in People's World are featured at the site, including many that reflect his own organizing experiences.

As a founding member of Local 34 Unite Here at Yale, he produced a video on the union's 30^th anniversary which is featured along with a number of other video productions.  He was an early proponent for restructuring Yale's hiring practices to open job opportunities for Black and Latino New Haven residents.

Especially relevant are his consistent writings, videos and organizing for economic, social and racial equality.

Included in the website is a powerpoint from the 2006 Coalition to End Child Poverty in Connecticut. Art's presentation was shown across the state as part of a campaign for a wealth tax dedicated to ending child poverty, a forerunner of today's child tax credit and the movement to tax the rich. 

 

In recognition of his research connecting the lack of youth jobs to youth violence in 2011 which laid the foundation for the Jobs for Youth – Jobs for All campaign, the YCL dedicated their Black History Month march this year to Art Perlo. The video and testimonies are included in the website.

 

Art gave various lectures locally and nationally. The website includes a video of his popular analysis “An Activist's View of Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century” presented at the New Haven Free Public Library in 2014 which exposes capitalism and projects the need and possibility for socialism.

 

Art was instrumental in educating and encouraging new generations of activists in his union, community and in the Communist Party. 

 

During the 2020 presidential election he led a strong voter registration and “Dump Trump“ get out the vote effort in New Haven's Ward 24. Alder Evette Hamilton called him a “gentle giant” for his kindness, commitment, humor and broad knowledge that touched the lives of so many in the city, state and around the country. 

  

A number of his reports to the Connecticut and national Communist Party are included on the website, most recently addressing the economics of the Coronavirus crisis. His 2012 report on the US Economic Situation and the 2012 Elections anticipates the rise of the extreme right wing and white supremacy and the need for broad unity and solidarity to protect and expand democratic rights.

 

The website is colorfully designed, reflecting the iconic artwork of Jahmal Henderson's depiction of Art which is used as the logo and also available as a button. It includes Art's life story and tributes. 

 

Art moved to New Haven in 1974 to join life partner Joelle Fishman's history making People before Profits campaigns for Congress and Mayor on the Communist Party ticket. They shared 46 years of marriage and joy in the struggle during which Art gave full support to Joelle's leadership role in the community and the Communist Party in Connecticut and nationally.

 

Art was deeply respected for his willingness to take on any task no matter how small in the community or the union, and for his courage and unwavering commitment to equality, peace, environmental justice and an end to exploitation to make the world a better place

 

The website was initiated by the People's World Amistad Awards Committee in response to Art's passing just a week after the December 2021 event, and is sponsored by the Connecticut People's World Committee. 

 

Visitors to the site are encouraged to share their strategies and experiences in the “Add A Post” section.

 

Visit the site at: https://artperlo.net/