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.

Students Demand Yale Divest from Military Production

Yale students demanding the University's $40 billion endowment divest from military production investments “including those profiting from Israel's genocidal war on Gaza,” have captured national attention.

After gathering for a week of teach-ins, book exchange, poetry and art at Beinecke Plaza in advance of the Yale Board of Trustees weekend meeting, the students erected tents and established an encampment on Friday April 19. Hundreds of students and allies came in solidarity.

On Sunday night students refused an offer to meet with the Trustees because their demand for disclosure of investments and divestment from military production would not be considered.

Early Monday April 22 University police removed and arrested 47 students who received misdemeanors. The protest moved to the busy public intersection of College and Grove Streets, shutting down traffic for a day. New Haven police said they would not interfere with a peaceful protest.

By agreement, the protest moved to Yale's Cross Campus at 5 pm where the protest continues daily. Yale Jews for Ceasefire (J4C) held a “Seder in the Streets” on that first night of Passover calling on Yale and the U.S. government to “stop starving Gaza” and “stop arming Israel.”

Earlier in the week J4C sang “We Shall Not be Moved” in Hebrew. Civil Rights Movement songs and performances of all genres have brought people together alongside beautiful posters memorializing Palestinian academics killed by Israeli arms.

Yalies 4 Palestine, a leader of the encampment and protest, joined in coalition with other campus groups to organize the actions. A large percentage of students have taken part. Conservative campus groups have held counter protests. Some in the Jewish campus community falsely labeled the protests anti-Semitic.

The students are in solidarity with an emerging national campus movement in solidarity with Palestine facing arrest and discipline. Campus protests at Yale in the 1980's led to divestment of funds from apartheid South Africa.

An on-line petition to the Board of Trustees, “Yale Corporation Divest from Weapons and Genocide” has nearly 1,000 signatures. Headlined “It's Your Yale. They're Your Bombs,” the petition questions Yale's $40 billion endowment investments saying, “Our community refuses to let Yale make our education in New Haven contingent on death and destruction abroad. Tell the Corporation: divest from military weapons now “

The New Haven Board of Alders will hold a virtual public hearing on a ceasefire resolution on Wednesday May 1.

Legislature Graded on Equity Agenda

 

The State Capitol was filled this week with labor and community organizations pushing for bills in the Equity Agenda that will raise wages for tipped workers, extend healthcare to immigrant youth, fully fund higher education, protect Uber drivers, fund child care, protect against unjust evictions, expand paid sick days, and more.

They all came together for the Connecticut for All Democracy School held in the rotunda of the State Capitol. Grading the legislators, participants held up PASS or FAIL signs as speakers representing each constituency of the Equity Agenda explained why their bill was urgent to pass this session.

Led by professor Seth Freeman, president of SEIU 1973 that represents community college faculty, FAIL signs dominated, serving as a warning for legislators to act before the May 8 adjournment.

One exception was the victory of Personal Care Attendants in 1199 who won approval for funding to raise their wages to $24 an hour over six years. When this was announced cheers and PASS signs went up.

Many interrupted their lobbying efforts to take part in the Democracy School. Together their collective strength could be felt along with the resolve to continue the fight for all parts of the equity agenda.

When one state senator was approached to support the extension of just cause eviction protections to all renters he repeated the corporate landlord's line that they have to have the ability to remove bad tenants. In fact the law already exists for those over 65 and those with disabilities with no problem.

SB 143, supported by the CT Tenants Union, addresses the crisis created by mega landlords grabbing up properties with the intent of raising rents to get more profits.

Following the Democracy School, an extraordinary press conference was held by Connecticut Students for a Dream with dozens of high school students from Danbury, New Haven and Hartford who took time from their spring break to support expanding health coverage regardless of immigration status for young people up to age 18.

Currently coverage stops at age 15. One 17 year old courageously told her story of needing serious surgery because of the high cost of healthcare without coverage. Rep Jillian Gilcrest pledged to do all she can to get the bill passed this session and to continue next session to win health care for all ages, supporting the demand of Connecticut Students for a Dream and Husky for Immigrants,.