Remarks by Rochelle Palache, People's World Amistad Awardee

Thank you Joelle and Art. Thank you to the entire CT People’s World Community. I am honored to join the ranks of the esteemed group of past awardees, including member leader Ciro Guitterez, and my leaders Alberto Bernardez and Juan Hernandez. 

It is with grace and great humility that I accept this award in honor of the thousands of hardworking men and women of my union, SEIU Local 32BJ.

The vast majority of these freedom fighters are now in contract negotiations, and today, December 14, hundreds voted unanimously to authorize a strike if we do not reach a favorable agreement by December 31. 

I am incredibly honored to serve and fight alongside these amazing warriors. They teach me every day that, regardless of our differences, we have one struggle and we have to remain united against our common enemy. I carry their passion, their energy, their stories with me and it provides me with the fuel I need to keep going. 

Quite fittingly, on this day that I am honored, those who inspired me showed me their power by gathering by the hundreds in New Haven, Hartford and Stamford to say NO to the bosses’ attempts to intimidate them and to roll back the progress we have made over the years. We emphatically said NO to any GIVEBACKS and YES to fair wages, affordable healthcare and a decent pension.

Our members work extremely hard and they deserve to thrive and to live with dignity and respect.

At these meetings, our members and our President Kyle Bragg spoke passionately about the legacy of our great, late president Hector Figueroa. Hector devoted his life to ensure that the labor movement expanded and that labor used its influence to fight for economic, racial, environmental, and immigrant justice for all working people.

A huge thank you to you our community champions who have stood side by side with us in this struggle. Our members will continue to hold strong, and I know you will be there every step of the way, and so I have no I have no doubt that we will win a strong contract this year. Can we do it? ¡Sí, se puede!

I am a black woman, an immigrant, a woman of faith, a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend and a proud labor organizer.

It’s been my lifelong passion to empower, serve, defend and help others but sometimes it gets difficult to stay strong. Sometimes you feel like throwing in the towel. Sometimes you feel like giving up. In a world filled with so much despair and hate, it’s easy to get weary in well-doing. As we face the daily struggles against a system designed to oppress our most vulnerable, we have to remember that no matter how hard the obstacles we face in the fight for justice, it’s important to know who you are and to remain true to your passions. 

I know that this fight for justice is bigger than I am. It’s about leaving this world a little bit better for my two amazing children. It’s about staying united and strong in the face of what sometimes feels like insurmountable obstacles and speaking directly to that mountain of despair that "we will remain resolute in this fight, we will not give up!" Hate, greed and division will not prevail. 

So, in closing, don’t let nothing or no one put out your FIRE. Find the source of your power. For me, it’s my family, my church family, and my union family. I am reminded about a quote by Laura Esquival: "Each of us are born with a box of matches inside of us but we can’t strike them all by ourselves, we need oxygen, we need a candle" — we need each other. 

Today I watched hundreds of members standing together to join forces and declare that if we don’t get what we deserve at the table we will be going on strike come January 1,^st and I can’t fully describe to you the mood and the feeling in the room. It’s a beautiful thing to watch people coming together for one common struggle, each of us igniting the passion within each other that creates an explosion and that’s what creates a movement — a movement that our hero Hector Figuroa would be proud of. Hector presente. We will win this for you!