Equity Agenda calls for Revenue to Fund Human Needs

As the state legislative session heats up, a coalition of over 60 organizations has joined forces to support a “life saving budget” for basic needs of workers and communities that addresses systemic racism and economic inequalities. The Recovery for All Coalition (RFA) rolled out its Equity Agenda at a press conference at the State Capitol.

“We are all members of one big human family. We have not been taking care of each other,” said RFA organizer Puya Gerami. “Grandparents getting evicted. Cousins can't get care for lack of health insurance. 2023 must be the year for equity. The year to reconstruct Connecticut by building one Connecticut for all.”

“How can the wealthiest state have residents struggling amidst a historic crisis of need? ” asked Pastor Rodney Wade of Waterbury. “Hundreds of thousands of working families struggling to stay afloat?“ Calling the situation heartbreaking, he said, “The Equity Agenda speaks to funding our future for our children, for the residents of our state. We have the capacity, will we find the courage to do it?”

Rossana Garcia Ferraaro representing Husky for All underscored healthcare disparities for the immigrant community. “Three are 5.9 % with no health insurance. For undocumented residents there are 58% with no health insurance,” she said. “Health care is a human right. The Equity Agenda leaves no one behind.”

State Rep Kate Ferrar of West Hartford asked, “Why in our wealthiest state are women of color struggling to make ends meet,” She emphasized that “Working people contribute four times in annual income of the ultra rich.” Citing the Equity Agenda she said, “Insure the wealthiest pay what they owe and not expect working families to subsidize their share. Raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires. We have a chance to re-write the rules to be a state where everyone can truly thrive.”

Telling his own personal story of working long hours yet living in poverty, State Sen. Gary Winfield said,”We are one of the richest states in the richest nation in the entire world. It makes no sense that people are barely surviving, suffering.” Recalling his own experience Winfield said, “Nothing was wrong with me. I just wasn't getting paid what I was supposed to get paid.”

“Equity requires revenue,” said Winfield, “ to right the wrongs of the past.”

L&M Hospital Workers Picket for Livable Wages, Healthcare and Staffing

Over 900 members of Local 5123, AFT Connecticut at Lawrence and Memorial (L&M) Hospital in New London are demanding that Yale New Haven Health administrators negotiate in good faith for a new contract that would provide living wages, affordable health care insurance and adequate staffing.

The workers provide support services that ensure patients receive adequate care at L&M owned by Yale New Haven Health, one of the wealthiest and largest health care systems in Connecticut.

Connie Fields, President of Local 5123 says union members are struggling to support themselves and their families on the $15.50 per hour wages and poor healthcare insurance. Many workers are forced to go on the Connecticut Husky Health plan to supplement the health insurance provided on the job, while Patrick Green, President of L&M makes over $1.2 million per year in salary. It is clear that Yale New Haven Health’s priorities are backwards.

Local 5123’s members have been in contract negotiations since May 2022 with Yale New Haven Health’s administrators refusing to agree to decent living wages, reasonable health care and adequate staffing levels.

There are 130 vacant positions currently unfilled resulting in workers having difficulty providing needed care for patients. The union members are overworked and struggling to provide adequate care and services for patients. The Hospital’s poor treatment of workers extends to patients and the local community.

These health care workers are not alone in their struggle for a decent contract. Local leaders from New London, Groton and surrounding towns showed up on the picket line last week to support the workers.

Among those joining the picket line were New London Mayor Michael Passero, State Senator Martha Marx, and State Representatives Anthony Nolan, Christine Conley and Aundre Bumgardner. They recognized that Local 5123 members are engaged in a struggle to improve the lives of their families, patients and the broader community.

Signs carried on the picket lines illustrate these needs: “ L &M Healthcare Workers: We Demand Safe Staffing” “Hero Workers Paid Like Zeros” “L & M Hospital: I AM Worth More Than $15.50”

Members of Local 5123 AFT Connecticut deserve a decent contract!

Yale graduate teachers and researchers vote to unionize

An historic 30 year organizing effort was victorious this week adding 3,000 new union members at Yale University as graduate teachers and researchers voted in a landslide to unionize as Local 33–UNITE HERE.

The graduate teachers and researchers from all departments and professional schools cast 2,039 votes in the NLRB election with 1,860 in favor to 179 against, an overwhelming victory of 91%.

The election continues a wave of union organizing victories at private universities around the country, as well as organizing by workers at Starbucks, Amazon and other major corporations.

Leading up to the election the grad teachers and researchers delivered thousands of union cards to Yale President Peter Salovey at a huge rally and march attended by UNITE HERE Locals 34 and 35 at Yale representing clerical, technical, service and maintenance workers as well as supporters from the community.

They stood in solidarity with Local 33 because they understood that enlarging the union movement by 3,000 more workers would give strength to all efforts to win better wages and working conditions.

New Haven Rising, the community affiliate of UNITE HERE at Yale door knocked throughout the city connecting the union election with their campaign for Yale to hire from Black and Latino neighborhoods. Residents put Local 33 Union Yes signs on their doors and windows to show support.

“For decades our campaign has fought to improve the working conditions of graduate workers on our campus,” said Madison Rackear, a grad researcher from the Genetics Department. “We’ve been inspired by the union standard that our sibling unions Locals 34 and 35 have achieved through decades of organizing. I’m looking forward to winning a great first contract that will make graduate education at Yale more accessible to other working-class scholars.”

Workers have cited better dental and vision coverage, more accessible mental health care, guaranteed time off, protections for international grad workers, strong grievance procedures, cost of living adjustments, and increased transparency as just some of the reasons motivating the current organizing drive.

“COVID has really highlighted the precarity of our work and the need for stronger workplace protections,” said Adam Waters, a graduate teacher from the History Department. “The results of this election show that grad workers agree: our work makes Yale work and we deserve a seat at the table through our union and a contract.”

“I’ve been looking forward to this day for years,” said Ridge Liu from the Physics Department. “Grad workers need better pay, better healthcare, and real grievance procedures. Generations of grad workers have organized before us, and I’m really excited to finally win. I know our first contract will be one that future generations of grad workers will be able to build on. It’s great that the Yale administration did not engage in the same level of union-busting as they have in the past, and I hope they will bargain in good faith moving forward.”

“We’ve always stood with the grad teachers and researchers in their fight for respect and union recognition. I couldn’t be happier to welcome them into the UNITE HERE family here at Yale,” said Bob Proto, President of Yale’s service & maintenance union, Local 35–UNITE HERE. “I’m proud of the productive problem-solving relationship union workers have built with the university over the years—but we know how to fight for what we deserve too. I’m excited and hopeful to see what wins Local 33 secures in their first contract.”

Graduate workers at Yale have maintained one of the country’s longest continuous union representation drives against fierce opposition from the Yale Administration, including previous refusal to recognize the results of NLRB elections. If the Yale administration recognizes the results of this election, teachers and researchers from Yale’s graduate and professional programs will begin the process of negotiating their first union contract.

Residents Organize Against Rent Increases

The town of Beacon Falls, in the Naugatuck River Valley with 6,100 residents, is facing an intense rent and class struggle. In 2019 Athena Real Estate of Orlando, Florida, purchased River’s Edge Mobile Home Park. A majority of the park's residents are on fixed incomes including a number of senior citizens and those on disability.

In July, 2022 the private real estate investment firm raised mobile home fees for the third time since its takeover. Renters say the firm made no improvements while needs persist to repair septic and water pressure issues, paved roads and installation of back lighting.

River’s Edge resident Collen Dana purchased her home in 2017 to ensure affordable housing while on disability. Connecticut doesn’t permit rent control ordinances. However, municipalities of 25,000 or more are required to establish a Fair Rent Commission. In a small town like Beacon Falls, residents are permitted to submit a petition for a commission to allow residents to present grievances.

In August 2022, Dana and a dozen others presented the Board of Selectmen with a petition of 39 residents calling for a commission. In late November, the Board of Selectmen held the public hearing on an ordinance establishing a Fair Rent Commission with First Selectman Gerald Smith presiding and State Senator Jorge Cabrera (D) in attendance.

Prior to the town vote Smith, a former corporate realtor and bank administrator, denounced media reports of the rent struggle and warned citizens of tax increases the commission could cost the town.

Residents shared their fears of being displaced from their community, the absence of alternatives for senior housing and often feeling alienated by the faceless, out of state corporate firm.

Other town members in attendance who opposed the commission spoke about fears it would generate a tax increase and impact landlords. The proposal to establish the commission was voted down 78 to 39. While renters were disappointed, the struggle continues.

Renters across Connecticut are calling on the State Legislature to pass a law to place a cap on annual rent increases. Senator Cabrera agreed to meet with residents and the Connecticut Manufactured Homeowners Alliance to discuss pushing ahead at the state level to protect renters and mobile home owners.

This exploitation can be combated through the organization of renters, unions, and other allies. This initial awakening will go as far as the depths of grassroots class consciousness will take it.

Legislature told: “Create a budget where all families thrive, not just the wealthiest few.”

Connecticut's extreme racial, economic and gender inequalities, exposed during the pandemic, are unacceptable and must be addressed now says the Recovery for All Coalition (RFA) of 60 labor, community and faith based organizations, They will launch an Equity Agenda on January 19 at the State Ca;Capitol.

“Decades of bad policy that have made Connecticut ground zero for the most extreme racial, economic and gender inequalities in the nation,” says RFA. “But we can make a change.”

The State Legislature is being urged “to use the state's budget surplus to fully fund the services our struggling communities need and reduce Connecticut's extreme racial, economic and gender inequities.”

On January 4, the first day of the session, RFA executive director Puya Gearmi emphasized, “As the wealthiest state in the country, Connecticut should be a shining example for the nation – a place where every family has what we need to live a good life. Instead hundreds of thousands of working people are struggling to raise families here, while a handful of ultra-wealthy corporations and residents are getting even wealthier. Adding insult to injury working people in Connecticut are also contributing a much greater share of their income to fund the services we all rely on while the wealthiest are failing to pay what they own to state and local governments.”

The statement continues, “This inequity especially harms women, people of color and their children who are also caught in a vise between record inflation and employers who fail to pay living wages. In addition, the state's failure to meet the skyrocketing need for health care, affordable housing, public education and child care harms the majority of Connecticut's residents – yet the state has continued to prioritize the wealthiest and corporations.

“At the same time that our communities are suffering from a massive crisis of unmet need, the state faces a multi-billion dollar surplus and an overflowing Rainy Day Fund. We will be using the newly enacted budget provision Section 92 to hold lawmakers accountable for their stated commitment to passing a budget that will truly mitigate the state's extreme racial, economic and gender inequities.

“This legislative session p;resents a historic opportunity for our state lawmakers to use the budget surplus to create a future where all families across Connecticut have the chance to thrive, not just the wealthy few.”