AFL-CIO

Offering Hope through Union Activism

Thu, 10/13/2022 - 5:00pm
Members of AFT Connecticut-affiliated local unions representing health professionals in an increasingly consolidated industry are raising the alarm when it comes to an escalating patient care crisis. In an interview for our national union's online "AFT Health Care," Backus Federation of Nurses President Sherri Dayton (left in photo, below) offers insights and suggestions for overcoming challenges. Her timely advice includes supporting candidates seeking political office this November running on the "labor is your neighbor" platform:

Lifting Up Labor Leaders and Helping Students Soar

Thu, 06/30/2022 - 5:30pm
More than 100 delegates representing members of AFT Connecticut's affiliated local unions came together in-person for the first time since 2019 for our state federation’s convention. Capping the June 4 event was a luncheon where labor activists who over the previous 12 months lived up to the event's theme of "better days ahead" were recognized. Annual scholarships aimed at helping members and their families beat the rising cost of higher education were also announced.
 

Awarding Activism and Aiding Academics

Mon, 06/28/2021 - 6:30pm
Like every other aspect of our lives, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis impacted the presentation of annual awards and scholarships at our state federation's 2021 convention. Members were last month recognized virtually for their "above-and-beyond" activism, and several weeks later educational grant winners received notice of their selection. The unorthodox celebrations were indicative of the challenges our labor family has faced and overcome this past year.
 

Comments on the State Auditors' Review of the Sandy Hook Workers Aid Fund

Thu, 12/05/2019 - 11:30am
State and local AFT leaders today made the following public remarks in response to the Auditors of Public Accounts' (APA) December 4 letter regarding the Sandy Hook Workers Assistance Program (SHWAP):
 

Making Our Collective Voice "Heard in the Voting Booth"

Tue, 11/19/2019 - 6:30pm
The vote tallies in the 2019 General Election say it all; 23 members of AFT Connecticut-affiliated local unions across the state won their respective races for municipal office. There is no debating the value of backing our sisters and brothers when they step up to show their communities that “labor is your neighbor.” Importantly, it also points to the path for restoring working peoples' political power as nationally important elections in 2020 draw near.
 
Click here for final election results in races in which AFT Connecticut made endorsements.
 

Swearing-In Leaders Committed to a Union that's "Still Growing"

Mon, 07/22/2019 - 5:30pm
Leaders elected by delegates to AFT Connecticut's annual convention were last week officially sworn in to the offices they will hold through June of 2021. While most are continuing in positions they previously held, there were notable exceptions — including changes in secretary-treasurer as well as two jurisdictional and five at-large vice presidents (VP). All have track records within their local affiliates that demonstrate the strength of the "U and I in Union."
 

Keeping the Commitment to "Win-Win" Solutions

Mon, 06/24/2019 - 5:30pm
Republican lawmakers earlier this month hatched a last-ditch attempt to block passage of a biennial budget package by misrepresenting so-called "labor savings." They have since continued pushing a false narrative that public sector union leaders were negotiating "concessions" with the administration of Governor Ned Lamont. In reality,  nothing could be further from the truth; ongoing discussions have since January focused on "win-win" solutions, not more givebacks.
 

Educators, Municipal and State Employees, Nurses Back Grocery Workers on Strike

Mon, 04/15/2019 - 4:30pm
Hamden - Leaders of AFT Connecticut and Council 4 AFSCME today presented a joint donation to workers picketing outside the Dixwell Avenue Stop & Shop in Hamden. Each labor federation contributed $2,500.00 to a joint strike fund benefitting approximately 12,000 cashiers, stockers, bakers, deli clerks, and butchers in the company's 94 grocery stores across Connecticut. They were joined by local consumers and elected officials supporting members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).
 

Working Together to Protect Retirement Security

Tue, 01/29/2019 - 6:30pm
A small group of leaders representing several public sector unions in mid January sat down with Governor Ned Lamont and members of his new administration. The purpose of the informal meeting was to explore potential efforts to further safeguard pensions for state employees and shore up retirement funding for teachers. The discussion followed Lamont's frequent assertions last year as a candidate to treat working people — particularly, union members — in Connecticut with "fairness, dignity and respect."
 

Standing Up to the State Employee "Blame Game"

Sat, 12/22/2018 - 1:00pm
Last month on Election Day the candidates for statewide office and the legislature who pledged to stand up for Connecticut's working families won big. Yet corporate lobbyists and their front groups continue pushing austerity policies that benefit big business and the ultra-rich ahead of the opening of the General Assembly's 2019 session. Union leaders are mobilizing to ensure the new Lamont Administration and incoming lawmakers make better choices than more middle-class givebacks or additional public service cuts.
 
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