Raise your voice about climate change

by John Harrity

If you watched the news over the last days of August, you saw video of an almost inconceivable wave of destruction in Nepal.  Untold numbers of people and both the infrastructure and cultural heritage of this ancient region were swept away.  Glaciers in the mountains above a populated valley were weakened by rising global temperatures and came cascading down in a deadly tsunami.

It may have seemed a world away, but the reality is you and I caused that disaster as surely as if we had pushed a big red button that released the deluge.  You may roll your eyes but it is literally true.  Why?  How?  

We have failed over many years to take any significant action on climate change. Meanwhile we consistently produce the most carbon emissions of any country on earth — emissions that are causing the globe to get hotter. 

Nepal may seem too far away.  Put it aside for the moment.  What about the weather forecasts seemingly day after day for the past several months putting literally millions of Americans on alert for extreme weather.  

Record-breaking weather of every description.  Snowfall measured in feet instead of inches.  Rainfall amounts considered once in a thousand years occurring annually.  Los Angeles burning down!  There is no need to list them.

The majority of Americans now recognize that this extreme weather is the result of human-generated climate change. It’s also clear that at a time when “affordability” squeezes every household, climate degradation is getting costly.  Maybe it’s just the added cost of running the AC more or having to crank the furnace higher.   Millions of Americans have endured moderate to severe storm damage.  The cost of repairs comes either from your own wallet, insurance companies, or some level of government.

 Inevitably we will all bear increased costs due to these continuing catastrophes. Considering all this, why is virtually no one in political leadership or mainstream journalism talking about it!  Why?  You know what?  It does not matter.  As of today — right now — you and I have to start hollering.  Imagine if your kids were in a locked car that rolled into the river - that is how loud, and frantically, and

persistently we have to yell.  Yell!

Do not grasp for a complacency based on today’s already eroded standards, thinking we can adjust to this “new normal.”  Because this is all only going to get worse.  And all the data indicates that the rate of decline is quickening.   First target of our new-found rage: No candidate for office, either challenger or incumbent, should get our support unless they are committed to a strong position of climate safety action.

YOUR commitment in the elections is to make sure to vote! And get everybody you know out voting too, to make sure climate champions are elected.

Complain to the media about their pathetic coverage of the most important story, maybe, in human history. How can they report the weather forecast every 10 minutes but fail to provide any analysis about how rapidly weather is becoming more severe, why that is happening and what the future holds unless we eliminate carbon emissions?

Get on your marching shoes. We need to be gathering in large numbers to protest this lack of action by those who control the levers of power in this society. In government, that means both the federal and state leadership. Those culpable include the executive and legislative branches of government for

generally gutless lack of action across the board. True, more is happening on the state level than nationally, but nearly enough.

The prime target of our ire ought to be the private sector, which continues to engorge itself at the profit smorgasbord while they kill the earth. They have so far successfully lulled most of the population into somnambulant acquiescence to their path of destruction. But no more. For God;s sake, no more.

At this moment, within the aura of Labor Day, Unions must take up the call: “Workers DEMAND a safe planet!” If unions’ primary role is to safeguard the rights of working people and ensure they enjoy a decent, stable quality of life, what could be more important, more urgent, than fighting to maintain/ restore our climate? If the members do not understand it, teach them.

DO NOT Continue to be complacent. Do not surrender the future of your children and their children. Complain. Confront. Holler, Yell. Vote, vote vote! Raise hell! DEMAND a safe planet.

John Harrity is the former president of the Connecticut State Council of Machinists. He lives in East Hartland.

Educators Enlist City Officials for Safe and Healthy Schools

New Haven Aldermanic Chambers was packed with teachers, students, staff and parents for a special public hearing of the Board of Alders Education Committee about overwhelming facilities problems in the schools.

New Haven Federation of Teachers president Leslie Blatteau presented a slide show deliniating extreme temperatures, water damage, mold, rodents and persistent odors due to malfunctioning air-conditioning and heating systems and active roof leaks.

“Public schools are the bedrock of democracy,” she said. “Both are under attack. We must not let the problems lead to privatization. We are here to call for solutions to the continued pattern of neglect.”

Blatteau itemized steps the teachers union has taken in search of solutions including using the grievance procedure, state air quality requirements, and enforcement of OSHA standards.

These “alarming” conditions impact morale and health she said, calling on the Alders to help find solutions to the unsafe working and learning conditions. “We have to all go to the state together for more resources to fund capital improvements,” she urged.

Thanking Blatteau, the Alders asked all teachers to stand, and then all students and staff, to warm applause.

For several hours a parade of students, teachers and parents came forward to testify about the state of their classrooms and schools. Testimonies backed up with photos delineated dirty, unsafe bathrooms, rooms with no locks on the doors, rooms with no ceiling tiles and buckets to catch water, rooms with 80 to 90 degree temperatures, and constantly returing mold poisoning the air.

As each student was called to speak, all students stood in witness as the testimonies were greeted with cheers

“Temporary repairs can't be long term solutions,” said student leader Brandon Dailey calling for safety and basic dignity. “Education is a pathway, schools should reflect that,” he said.

Several speakers emphasized the unjust racial and economic disparities in the richest state calling for state budgets that prioritize public education, and for Yale to pay a much larger contribution to the City of New Haven to make up for its tax exempt status.

Solidarity: Lessons for Today from Unite Here Local 34 Founding Strike

Solidarity was the message at the New Haven Peoples Center during a film showing and conversation with UNITE HERE Yale union members about the 1984 strike that won Local 34's first contract. Interest was high to learn from the unions' past struggles and victories as sharp battles unfold in current contract negotiations with Local 34 clerical and technical and Local 33 post-doctoral workers.

The film had been produced on the 30^th anniversary of the strike with photos by Joe Taylor and script by Art Perlo who narrated along with Pamela Mouzon.

The crowd was welcomed to the event by retiree Mary Thigpen and welcomed to the Peoples Center by Local 34 member Ben McManus. Pamela Mouzon announced the upcoming Local 34 membership meeting and march to be held on October 14, organized as a show of unity to send a message to Yale University trustees that “We Can't Keep Up.”

The film detailed the daily experience on the picket line as the University refused to recognize the clerical and technical workers union in 1984. Included were the remarkable organizing, the big civil disobelience actions, the return to work for the holidays, and the solid support from already established Local 35 service and maintenance workers leading to the historic victory. Prolonged applause followed the film.

“Solidarity led to victory,” said Ken Suzuki who has 44 years seniority at the University. “The brave women of Local 34, the support of Local 35 who struck with us and raised dues two times to fund us, Local 217 assigning seven organizers for a four year drive, and today, Local 33 graduate teachers” he said recalling that “when Local 34 struck for pensions in 2003 the graduate teachers, then called GESO, went on strike with us.”

Suzuki recalled how Art Perlo, although classified as an M&P “organized like a member and went on strike with us as a member. People made important decisions what to do to change their lives and the lives of others. We couldn't do it by ourselves.”

Today, the University is playing hard ball at the negotiating table, threatening takeaways, using the anti-union practices of Amazon as an example, and crying poor despite their $42 billion endowrment.

Local 34 president Lisa Stevens said the difficult contract struggle requires more member involvement with new challenges of AI and members working as home since COVID.

“We have to build organization as was done in 1984,” said Local 34 staff director Barbara Vereen. “Rebuilding relationships will get people out. Join the committee and bring people with you. This fight will be won in the streets.“

Renee Deminne, speaking as a new member of Local 34 said, “New workers have to think about what they want their career at Yale to look like, with the benefits that have been hard won, or losing those.”

Cheryl Bergman, secretary-treasurer of Yale Union Retirees Association and an original organizer of Local 34 emphasized that without the pensions won over two strikes, the lives of her family and other retirees would not be what they are today.

Amelia Protano, credited with leading the pension fight, agreed saying she would not be able to stay in her home without the pension.

Also on the discussion panel were Local 33 leaders Paul Seltzer and Greg Zillberg. Seltzer said that in 2023 he got a 20% wage increase in Local 33's first contract for graduate workers. Now a new father he said, “That enabled us to start a family.” Zillberg said post doctural workers now negotiating their first contract are drawing on those experiences. Their organizing victory this year brought the number of unionized workers at Yale University to 10,000.

The Yale Strike film was introduced by Lisa Armstrong, teacher of gender studies at Smith College, who emphasized the far reaching impact of the strike, inspiring clerical workers at Columbia and Harvard to organize.

“We are here to celebrate this momentous achievement because it is still an ongoing fight to retain the dignity, respect, wages, pensions, workplace safety and voice of Local 34 union members.,” she said.

“The effects of this union struggle were instantaneous among workers who were considered difficult to unionize: in part because of the assessment that the largely women workforce does not want a union. How wrong this is,” she said.

“The unity between the established maintenance workers union, Local 35 and what became Local 34 is legendary. The solidarity led by a largely African American and Latino workforce of Local 35 for Local 34 every step of the way proved how workers can win union representation.”

The Peoples Center was decorated with poster-sized strike photos by Joe Taylor shown in the film. One featured civil rights icons Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Bayard Rustin who participated in a civil disobedience with the strikers, calling on Yale to recognize the union.

Public Education at Stake in November Elections

Teachers, parents and grassroots leaders gathered last week in New Haven with U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Adelita Grijalva (Arizona CD 7) in the fight to save public education against MAGA cuts and privatization.

“In March, the president directed the administration to dismantle the department of education, and they are working furiously at this,” said DeLauro. They’ve reduced the workforce in half and transferred core functions to other agencies. President Trump’s proposed 2027 budget would slash more than $8 billion from public education,” she warned.

“I served on a school board for 20 years,” said Congresswoman Grijalva. “We’re seeing a systematic starvation of our public education system. We have people making decisions about investing in public schools who do not send their kids to public school,” she said.

“Our job is to make sure we fully fund our public education system.” Connecting that to harrassment from ICE and border patrol in her community, she said “people are then often afraid to go to work, and take their kids to school.”

“As a member of the Education and Workforce Committee, I will continue working with Congresswoman DeLauro to hold these federal officials accountable,” she said. “We need to protect public education. We have to make sure every student and family has the same opportunity to reach their dream.”

The Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, a federal voucher scheme the Trump administration is implementing in many states, is based on Arizona’s voucher program.

“Arizona is the capital of vouchers,” Grijalva said. “We lost one billion dollars from our public education system in the very first year of vouchers, and it’s going to be more,” she said warning that some members of Congress want to expand that across the country. “And what starves is our public education system.” she said.

“Let’s learn from Arizona about what we should be on guard against here in Connecticut,” said New Haven Federation of Teachers President Leslie Blatteau. “Vouchers haven’t worked in Arizona, so why go there in Connecticut, or anywhere else? It’s the Trojan horse to dismantle our public schools long term.”

House votes to end Trump’s war on Iran, again

WASHINGTON—By a 220-204 margin, the GOP-run House for the third time defied Trump and approved a resolution to invoke the War Powers Act and bring the troops, munitions, and planes home from the conflict.

With the support of 213 Democrats and seven Republicans—many of them from “swing” districts—the resolution passed Tuesday evening. The other 204 Republicans stuck with Trump and voted against the measure. One Democrat and eight Republicans did not vote.

All five Connecticut House members voted in favor. Rep John Larson (CT-1) issued a statement pointing out that the vote was taken “on the 200^th day since President Trump launched his illegal war in Iran.”

Larson previously introduced legislation to cut off funding for this unauthorized war and filed articles of impeachment against President Trump and  U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for waging war in Iran, in direct contravention of the United States Constitution and international law. 

“The United States Congress has been clear—President Trump needs to end his illegal war in Iran,” said Larson. “Twenty American servicemembers have now lost their lives in the Middle East, and diesel prices have reached record-highs here at home. It is clear that this president views our Constitution as a mere suggestion and not the law of the land. We must enforce the law—and that starts with passing my bill to cut off all funding for this illegal and costly conflict, and block Donald Trump or any future president from waging war without explicit approval from Congress.”

For many of the Democrats, led by sponsor Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and aided by Reps. Kendrick Meeks, D-N.Y., and Jason Crow, D-Colo., ordering Trump to stop the war and bring the troops home from the conflict is a matter of Congress’s reasserting its constitutional authority to declare war—or not.

Anticipating either a Senate defeat or a Trump veto, Moulton declared “we will keep the pressure on” until Trump ends the war.

“This Congress has not authorized a war with Iran, and yet this administration has kept our troops in harm’s way, without a declaration of war, without an authorization from Congress, and without any plan for how to win or end the war,” added Meeks. In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, did not declare war on that country until after he took, in accordance with the Constitution, the matter to Congress.

Meeks brought up the economic impact of the war, too.

“We are seven months into a war of choice President Trump said would only last four to six weeks,” said Meeks. Due to the war, “Families have paid over $100 billion more for gasoline and diesel, roughly $800 more per household, while gas averages more than $4 a gallon and diesel is near $6.”

Actually, Meeks understated the hit to U.S. wallets and purses. Prices increased 3.4% from August 2025 to last month, the government reported, while wages lagged behind. Gasoline prices rose by 27.4% over those same 12 months and fuel oil rose by double that (52%).

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reported, just hours before the House’s 7:48 p.m. vote, that the war—which has now cost $38 billion since Trump and Israel began it on Feb. 28—will add at least a further 0.5% to next year’s inflation.

Crow, a former Army Ranger, hit the themes of accountability—and class.

“What is the accountability mechanism?” Crow asked. “The accountability mechanism is Americans are in the driver’s seat because Americans are the ones that have to do the fighting, do the dying, and pay for this. It is not the elites and the pedigreed folks in this administration that are fighting and dying. They are banging the war drums and sending working-class kids like us to go do it.”

The anti-war resolution is expected to hit the Senate later in the week. It’s the third time the House invoked the War Powers Act against Trump, and the number of Republicans increased each time. The GOP-run Senate has held fast with Trump and war, but by small margins.

Trump in turn has made support for his war a litmus test for his party. If so, two-thirds of all U.S. voters fail the test. That’s how unpopular the war is—and it may become even more so.

The war is also affecting workers, and the AFL-CIO recognized that at its convention in Minneapolis in May. Some unions are even tougher on the war than the federation is. One of the bluntest denunciations came from National Nurses United, just four days after Trump began the war.

“We will stand with workers and communities harmed by war, repression, coercion, threats of genocide, and to democratic self-determination,” the AFL-CIO convention resolution said. “We will advocate for an end to wars that threaten workers’ livelihoods, security, and rights. Working people must never be treated as pawns in geopolitical power struggles.”

“The Trump administration has ignored the Constitution and committed yet another imperialist act of war…without approval from Congress,” NNU declared on March 2. “The U.S. attack on Iran is paid for by our patients: Working-class people across the United States who are already struggling here at home to afford basic necessities such as health care, food, and housing.”

While denouncing the brutality of the Iranian government against its own people, NNU called the war “an extension of Trump’s fascist allegiance to the billionaire class and a continuation of decades of U.S. intervention in Iran, beginning with the overthrow of the democratically-elected Iranian government in 1953.

“While prioritizing spending on war abroad, Trump and the Republicans have also openly waged war over the past year on working-class people here at home, gutting Medicaid and Medicare, refusing to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that keep our patients’ premiums from skyrocketing, and proving that they run the United States to benefit only billionaires and corporations.”