Tenants take on Landlord Lobby by Organizing a Union

 

Connecticut's housing crisis is driving homelessness and demands immediate action. Yet legislation that could have made a difference did not get voted on during this session of the State Legislature. As tenants strategize they are continuing to organize and build more power to counter the influential landlord lobby and win housing stability.

The campaign to expand just cause eviction protections to all renters took hold at the grass roots with hundreds of letters and testimonies, rallies and events. These protections, already law for individuals with disabilities and those over 65, would prevent no-cause evictions at the end of a lease.

Megalandlords, especially since the pandemic, have been buying properties, evicting long term tenants, and raising the rents for new tenants in cities across the state.

Connecticut ranks tenth in the country for least affordable housing. Four of the state's five largest cities are on the list of top 100 metro areas with the highest eviction rates. At least 68% of Connecticut renters spend more than half of their monthly income on rent.

“I think it became very clear to us not only this session but last session that the default orientation of many and perhaps most in the legislature is towards the interests of the few who own the property,” tenants union leader Luke Melonakos-Harrison told the media. “For the many who don’t own property but are just trying to have a stable place to live, it’s an incredibly uphill battle to get those concerns heard.”

This year landlords,claiming their rights are being taken away, formed a super PAC, Property Owners Defense League, that does not have to disclose funding sources. They are raising money to run candidates in this November's elections for the legislature.

In response tenants are joining together in collective action with the Connecticut Tenants Union.

“The very same week that our legislators failed to act on Just Cause, three more tenant unions brought their megalandlord to the bargaining table to negotiate for repairs, stable rents, and secure tenure,” they said.

“We never expected our fight for tenant power, justice, and freedom to rise or fall at the Capitol. We know our liberation will come from us: building power, strength, and unity through collective action, through tenant unions that fight and win, through a mass movement of working class people fighting for ourselves and our future “ the tenant union concluded.

Students, Community Groups and Veterans Walk in Solidarity with Gaza

 

Connecticut students, religious and community groups, and veterans are all walking for peace this Memorial Day week raising the cry for an end to the war and genocide in Gaza.

Scores of Yale University students waked out of their graduation ceremonies in solidarity with students in Gaza where schools have been reduced to rubble. Following on their encampments, the students called on Yale to divest its $40 billion endowment from military production complicit in Israel's assault.

Three days later a statewide coalition launched a three day Walk for Gaza. Participants joined a global movement to walk the length of Gaza in solidarity with those suffering from the ongoing violence. They demanded an immediate permanent ceasefire and end to unconditional US military aid to Israel.

The 25 mile walk included eight miles in New Haven, eight miles in Bridgeport and nine miles on the shoreline, stopping at Congressional offices and health care facilities. During the walk they raised funds for the United National Relief and Works Agency UNRAWA) the main source of humanitarian aid that the US abandoned this year.

On Thursday they met up with Veterans for Peace at a dinner at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme. The veterans are walking through Connecticut on their way from Maine to Washington DC calling for a stop to endless wars.

The 700 mile peace walk passes through Connecticut in May, culminating with participation in Norwalk's annual Memorial Day Parade.

“No need to worry, they come in peace!” says their press release. “We just didn't want you to be surprised if you are driving this month and see a group of veterans carrying peace signs walking through your neighborhood.”

The walk will reach the nation's Capitol on July 4, Independence Day. “What these veterans want is independence from the dark prison of war and militarism so that our nation can focus its attention, energy, resources and creativity on addressing the real threats of nuclear war, climate collapse and future pandemics,” said the release, adding “the only way to address these global threats is collaboratively, through global cooperation.”

The Veterans for Peace route is from Plainfield to Branford arriving in New Haven on May 28 and then continuing to Norwalk on May 31. Daily evening events are open to the public. Information is available at https://peacewalk2024.org/get-involved/.

Tell Gov Lamont: Support Relief Fund for Striking Workers

 

When Gov. Ned Lamont threatened to veto aid for striking workers last week, the question became: which side are you on?

Corporations have a lot tactics to keep workers divided and profits up. When workers stick together and win the right to a union, they can improve wages and benefits and working conditions at contract time.

One corporate tactic to destroy unions and keep extracting maximum profits from workers' labor is to refuse to bargain in good faith and force workers out on strike for their jobs and their livelihood.

In this legislative session the Connecticut AFL CIO top priority was relief benefits for workers forced to strike, like in New York and New Jersey. It would pressure corporations to bargain in good faith, and if they don't, it would provide relief for courageous workers.

At the end of the day the Connecticut General Assembly took a major step toward leveling the playing field for working people by establishing a $3 million relief fund to support workers who have no choice but to go on strike.

“It will allow workers to exercise their right to strike without simultaneously facing foreclosures, evictions and repossessions,” said Ed Hawthorne president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, calling the bill “a vital step towards safeguarding the rights of workers who courageously stand up for better working conditions, fair wages, and dignified treatment in the workplace.”

Gov Ned Lamont is threatening to veto the bill and stand on the side of corporate giants like RTX, the biggest opponent of the bill. RTX (merged Raytheon and United Technologies) parent company of Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace claims workers are happy because they have not gone out on strike in recent years. They claim that strike relief would “render the business uncompetitive.”

“In an environment where bargaining power is tilted so far towards employers, the idea that the state is “putting its thumb on the scale of the side of labor” is just not accurate,” says Rob Baril, President of SEIU District 1199NE. “The truth is, the scales have been heavily skewed in favor of corporations for a long time.”

Supporters of the strike relief fund are urged to contact Gov Lamont and let him know it is time to stand with working people, not corporate CEO's!

UConn and Yale Urged to Drop Charges against Student Protesters

 

Professors and alumni of the University of Connecticut and Yale are calling on the presidents of their universities to drop legal charges against students arrested while opposing the war on Gaza and demanding divestment from military production.

At court cases in Vernon and New Haven on May 8, hearings were continued until June 26 for the UConn students and until July and August for the Yale students.

An outpouring of students in support of Palestinian rights have called on their academic institutions to divest endowment funds from military production being sent to Israel. The movement is reminiscent of student uprisings that led to ending apartheid in South Africa in the 1980's and to ending the war on Vietnam in the 1960's.

The students are calling for ceasefire and humanitarian aid as more than 35,000 civilians in Gaza, 40% of whom are children, have been killed and hospitals, universities, schools, mosques, churches and housing have been destroyed.

Over 1,000 letters have been sent to Yale president Peter Salovey demanding that Yale “drop the charges against its students and the community members who were arrested on April 22, April 29, and May 1 for peacefully protesting against this university’s complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza.

“By escalating violence against students exercising their right to protest, this university only stands to further ensure an unsafe environment for students—impacting their quality of life and education, and reflecting a prioritization of profits over people.”

The letters urge President Salovey to “heed their call for divestment from weapons, not penalize them for peacefully assembling and speaking out.”

Outside the courthouse in New Haven, Yale senior Craig Birkhead-Morton, who was arrested twice, said he considers it to be “deeply unfortunate that the university is taking this carceral approach to students.” The first arrests took place in the early morning hours during the encampment at Beinecke Plaza following a meeting of the Board of Trustees. The second arrest took place several days later as students marched through campus in the evening.

“We want to be able to focus on our roles as aspiring academics,” said Birkhead-Morton. “Yale is not functioning as an academic institution should.”

Letters of support for the UConn students can be sent to president Radenka Maric at: radenka.maric@uconn.edu. Letters to Yale's leadership to drop the charges can be sent at bit.ly/yaledropcharges.

Workers Rally On May Day and Workers Memorial Day

 

A May Day picket line so large it had to fill both sides of the street in front of New Haven's Omni Hotel sent a strong message to the bargaining table. Workers are negotiating a new contract, and they are demanding pay increases and a reversal of staffing cuts made during the pandemic.

"On this May Day workers at the Omni are calling for the hotel industry to "Respect Our Work"!” said Unite Here Local 217.

“We are fighting for a new contract and have the community with us all the way! We were joined by our allies in UNITE HERE Local 33, 34, and 35, New Haven Rising. When we fight we win!"

“If we don't get it, shut it down,” and other chants filled the air as drums kept the beat. The lively picket line lasted an hour on busy downtown New Haven Temple Street.

Unite Here hotel workers rallied in 18 cities on May Day as contract negotiations get underway with national chains.

Three days earlier on April 28 the Connecticut AFL CIO held its annual Workers Memorial Day ceremony at the state capitol honoring workers who have died or suffered illness or injuries on the job.

In Connecticut, 34 workers lost their lives to work-related injuries in 2022, the latest data available. An additional 35,700 workers suffered on-the-job injuries or illnesses.

According to the AFL-CIO’s annual report, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, 5,486 workers nationally were killed on the job and an estimated 120,000 workers died from occupational diseases in 2022. That means 344 workers died each day from job-related injuries and illnesses.

Each year on April 28 the sacrifices made by these workers and the families left behind are remembered and honored.

Connecticut AFL-CIO President Ed Hawthorne called on those assembled to take inspiration and work harder on behalf of all workers.

Remarks by Attorney General William Tong focused on his leadership with other Attorneys General in suing the Sackler family for their responsibility in the opiod crisis that had affected thousands of workers. Sen. Saud Anwar received the Health and Safety Legislative Award for his work in the General Assembly.

Four high school students presented their winning essays on health and safety on the job.

On Saturday, May 4 at 5 pm the Connecticut People's World annual May Day rally and celebration will be held at 37 Howe Street in New Haven themed "Unite and Fight" featuring greetings from the ongoing union struggles and victories.