Students Call on the Governor to Fund Community Colleges

As students return to the state's 12 community colleges this week they are being greeted by teams of volunteers with petitions to Gov Lamont demanding that funding be restored. “Paying more but receiving less” the fliers declare.

Community colleges are the bedrock of higher education for high school graduates who cannot afford a four year school. The two year community college degree is a pathway to skilled trades and other careers for thousands of young people in Connecticut including many students of color.

The state-wide Recovery for All coalition organized rallies and testimonies to the Appropriations and Higher Education Committee public hearings this spring to raise the alarm that the community colleges are in danger with a shortfall in funding.

Funding community colleges is a matter of achieving equity was a theme of many testimonies. The need to make community college free while fully funding them by taxing the rich were ideas also presented to the legislature during public hearings..

But cuts went into affect in the new budget. The legislature and governor reduced funding in the budget based on lower enrollment during the pandemic. But that is coming back while special funding during the pandemic ends.

A press conference in mid August at the community college in Hartford itemized what is being cut there as a result of the state budget including cafeteria services, the director of career services position, reduced tutoring and English-as-a-Second Language, or ESL, support.

Other locations face reduced library hours and access, reduced specialized academic programs, and reduced food pantry availability.

The CT News Junkie reports that Connecticut State including all higher education has 68 fewer full-time and 1,754 fewer faculty positions compared to 2019.

“It's a crisis,” declared Seth Freeman, president of the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges and a professor at Capital Community College..

“Connecticut State Community College is opening this fall, and it’s already failing our students and failing our state,” Freeman said, calling upon the Board of Regents to rely on a combined $125 million in reserves – $99 million for the community colleges and another $25 million for the system overall – to restore the funding. “

The flyers greeting students warn that next year's budget deficit is three times as large and the time to act in now. They feature a QR code to a page with a letter to email to Gov. Lamont, their state legislators and Chancellor Cheng.

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Rate Hike Protesters Say “Insurance Greed Kills”

“Insurance Greed Kills” read the banner carried by protesters outside the Connecticut Insurance Department public hearing on health insurance company requests for rate increases up to 23%.

In 2021 Cigna CEO David Cordani made $91 million. “Do Connecticut consumers need to make him even richer?” asked the flier distributed by Connecticut Citizens Action Group (CCAG)..

Additionally, Cigna spent $7.2 billion buying back its own stock and reported $148 billion gross profits.

“Yes, 2022 was quite a year for Bloomfield based Cigna,” said CCAG.. “The problem is, all that money could have paid for health care – but instead made the rich even richer!”

They are calling for a review of practices that extract billions of dollars from health care citing nearly $400 billion spent in 2022 on executive compensation, profits, and stock buybacks by four publicly-traded health insurance companies: Elevance/Anthem, Cigna, CVS Health and UnitedHealth. 

 

These are the same insurance companies who threatened Governor Lamont should the state pass a public option which would have extended the state’s health plan to thousands of people. It would have been administered by private health insurance companies

“Their greed is appalling,” said Tom Swan, Executive Director of CCAG . “We spend more than any other country on healthcare and we have the worst results — because we treat healthcare as a commodity.  There are too many people extracting too much money.”

“We are sick and tired of corporate interests getting policy makers to punch down and perpetuate the lie that patient protections and utilization are the reasons that healthcare is so expensive,” Swan added. “We need to consider options like banning use of premium dollars for stock buybacks and transparency around vertical integration.”

Testimonies and a letter writing campaign demanded that the Connecticut Insurance Department (CID) take into account what is really driving health care costs and reject all proposed rate hikes. Instead. The CID was called upon to investigate what's really driving health care costs: executive compensation for the top executives, profits, lobbying, arrangements with vertically integrated entities, mergers and acquit ions.

According to the office of Health Care Strategy, In 2021 commercial healthcare spending grew 18.8% in Connecticut while median household income increased by only 1.9%, deepening the healthcare coverage crisis for families in the state.

Social Security's 88th Birthday: Protect and Expand

Demanding that Social Security be protected and expanded, the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) joined with Rep John Larson on Monday and with the Dixwell Newhallville Seniors in New Haven on Thursday to enjoy birthday cakes and celebrate the 88^th year of Social Security and the 58^th year of Medicare.

“Social Security is a life line for thousands of retirees and needs to be preserved and strengthened,” said Bette Marafino, Connecticut ARA president, at the gathering of seniors at the Dixwell Q House.

In Connecticut 708,000 people depend on their earned Social Security benefits to make ends meet. Social Security contributes to at least half of the income of more than a third of beneficiaries 65 and older. Black residents over 65 disproportionately rely on Social Security for 90% of their income, reflecting discriminatory practices and lower wages when they were on the job.

Republican proposals to cut benefits, raise the retirement age and privatize the program for the benefit of corporate profiteers threaten to push millions of people into poverty. Larson, who represents Connecticut's first Congressional District, has joined with union and retiree organizations to introduce Social Security 2100 legislation that will expand benefits and secure Social Security into the future.

Speaking at the CSEA SEIU Local 2001 union hall in Hartford, Larson emphasized that “for 88 years, Social Security has been a promise between generations, a promise that you can retire with dignity after a lifetime of hard work. I am proud to join in support of protecting and expanding this program for years to come!”

The landmark Social Security 2100 Act Larson introduced with Rep. Jahana Hayes and 200 co-sponsors in June “will provide an across-the-board benefit increase for all recipients, ensure benefits better reflect seniors’ expenses, repeal the WEP/GPO that penalizes public servants, cut taxes for 23 million beneficiaries, and extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund by asking those making more than $400,000 a year to finally pay their fair share,” he said.

The historic victory won in 1935 establishing Social Security took a prolonged fight including huge marches on Washington DC during the Great Depression. That same all-out unity in action is needed today to defeat extremist right-wing attempts to destroy Social Security and to pass new legislation that makes billionaires pay taxes like everyone else to secure and expand Social Security

CT Voters Support Offshore Wind, Strong Labor Requirements

Connecticut voters overwhelmingly support building offshore wind energy with strong labor standards to improve the economy. according to a poll released at a public forum in Middletown last week.

The poll, conducted in nine states by Impact Research, found that Connecticut voters support requiring developers to provide living wages and workplace safety protections for the jobs offshore wind will create.

“The Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs believes that the climate crisis presents an opportunity to build thriving sustainable, just, and equitable jobs,” said executive director Aziz Dehkan.

“When we discuss a just transition from a fossil fuel economy to a green renewable energy economy we talk about living wage jobs,” said Dehkan. “That means individuals and families must not only be able to afford adequate shelter, food, and health care but that these workforce jobs are safe and sustainable.”

He greeted the polling results which show that “a wide margin of Connecticut residents not only support offshore wind projects but want those jobs with strong labor provisions. Additionally, they see offshore wind projects as good for the state economy.”

Activists who support moving funds from military spending and nuclear weaponry to job creating green energy and human needs also greeted the poll findings, which include:

• By a 39-point margin, nearly two-thirds of Connecticut voters across all demographics support building offshore wind energy with strong labor standards (63% support / 24% oppose / 13% don’t know) including among Democrats (+68), Independents (+33) and Republicans (+5).

• Connecticut voters see strong labor standards like workplace safety and living wages as paramount for any jobs created by the offshore wind industry. They overwhelmingly view workplace safety protections (88%) and living wages and good benefits (79%) as very important requirements for jobs created by the offshore wind industry.

• Connecticut voters believe offshore wind will be good for the economy and jobs—two of their top priorities for lawmakers. By a 35-point margin, they believe building offshore wind energy will be good for the economy and by a 44-point margin, they believe it will create jobs (52% create jobs / 8% cost jobs). More than four in five Connecticut voters say strengthening the state’s economy (86%) and creating more good jobs (84%) should be very important issues for lawmakers working on energy and environment issues.

Connecticut Tenants Union Formalizes Structure

The fight to hold corporate landlords accountable for rent hikes and repairs got hotter this week as the Connecticut Tenant Union formalized its organization by electing officers and a constitution.

The Connecticut Tenants Union (CTTU) says that it “brings together tenants, tenant unions, and tenant associations from across the state who are organizing collectively to demand stronger rights for tenants; an end to displacement, landlord harassment, and eviction; and democratic control of our housing.”

Tenant union organizing began two years ago in Connecticut, with organizations now present in nine cities and towns. In New Haven, the Board of Alders voted that tenant unions can be officially recognized by the city's fair rent commission in structures with ten units or more, giving tenants the right to file complaints collectively.

During the pandemic housing costs shot up exponentially. When pandemic protections against evictions were lifted, the number of evictions and the number of unhoused also shot up, disproportionately affecting people with low incomes, people of color, seniors and families with children.

A well organized campaign for legislation limiting the amount that a landlord can increase rent in one year to four percent failed to make it out of committee in this year's session of the state legislature as the power and profit-motive of real estate interests out weighed the testimonies of hundreds of tenants and support from a majority in the state according to polls.

However, legislation requiring municipalities of 25,000 or more to establish fair rent commissions was enacted. A majority of cases brought before these commissions have won relief and been successful in prohibiting exorbitant rent increases by landlords and stemming evictions.

Tenant unions increase the power of renters to challenge landlords' extreme rent hikes and refusal to fix needed repairs by filing complaints en mass, and holding rent strikes as a last resort. As well, the formalized organization will allow tenants to lobby as one body in hopes of shifting the balance against corporate landlords at the state legislature.

Hannah Strajer, who was elected president of the Connecticut Tenant Union, told the media, “The core basic principle is that people should be able to have stability in their housing, they should be able to afford where they live, not give crazy percentages of their income to their rent and they should have continuity in their community.” The CTTU can be contacted at CTtenantsunion@gmail.com