Connecticut AFL-CIO Recommits to Fight for Economic and Racial Justice

The Connecticut AFL-CIO enthusiastically unified around a strong, working class agenda, elected a new multi-racial leadership, and prepared for action with a series of workshops and resolutions at its fourteenth biennial convention themed, “Building Our Movement by Fighting for Economic and Racial Justice.”

The 250 delegates from 25 international unions unanimously elected Ed Hawthorne (AFSCME) as president and Shellye Davis (AFT) as executive vice president. Hawthorne served as vice president of his local at the Department of Labor and chairs the Western Connecticut Area Labor Federation. Davis is the first Black woman to be elected as the second officer of the state federation. A paraeducataor, she serves in multiple leadership capacities in her union and chairs the Eastern Connecticut Area Labor Federation.

After noting the historic nature of her election, Davis said, “We must continue to raise the bar. I am happy to be on this journey with Ed. Together we are ready to be your advocates and hear your voice.”

Delegates voted unanimously to recommit to working with the Recovery For All coalition to reduce racial and economic inequality in Connecticut. A key leader in the coalition, Local 1199 SEIU, re-joined the federation bringing with it the militancy of organizing and winning improved wages and benefits for essential workers, largely women of color in this past year as well as the current strike of caregivers at Sunrise group homes across the state.

National AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler pledged support for the Connecticut strikers. Speaking from the strike line at Kellogs, Shuler said, “We were, are and always will be essential. And we deserve to be treated like it. We deserve a fair share of the profits that we helped to create.” She emphasied the movement for passage of the P:RO Act expanding the right to organize.

Clayola Brown, AFL-CIO Civil and Human Rights Director,spoke early in the convention and led a workshop detailing the history of systemic racism in our country. She praised the action-oriented convention resolution, “Recommitment to Racial and Economic Justice,” which passed unanimously and “encourages affiliates to actively engage in eradication of systemic racism.”

The convention celebrated newly organized workers at twenty-seven different workplaces in eleven unions in the last two years.