Economic Policy Institute (EPI)

Urging Solutions to the Student Learning Crisis

Thu, 12/08/2022 - 12:30pm
Everyone deserves a secure retirement - particularly those who have devoted their careers to the common good. Hartford Federation of Teachers - Retired chapter member Margaret Ricks (left, in photo below) and AFT Connecticut President Jan Hochadel (right) propose this shared value as foundational to solving the nation’s school staffing shortage. Together in a recent op-ed they urged elected officials to take action for our state’s students who "need and deserve highly qualified teachers at the head of their classrooms:"
 

Resisting a Deceptive, Anti-Union Agenda

Wed, 08/31/2022 - 3:30pm
Escalating attempts by billionaire-bankrolled local front groups to undermine Connecticut's labor movement are falling flat and destined for failure. That's the message AFT Connecticut President Jan Hochadel (right, in photo below) delivered in a recent letter to the editor of CT Examiner. She flunked a mouthpiece who in a previous published letter carried water for "shadowy, dark money-funded front groups with an agenda opposed to working peoples' interests:"
 

"No Going Back to Normal" in 2021

Mon, 01/04/2021 - 2:20pm
When I accepted a Connecticut People’s World Committee "Amistad Award" last month, I began my remarks by recognizing our members. They are the ones who are out there fighting the good fights and making — as Congressman John Lewis would have said — "good trouble." I credited our educators and school support staff, nurses and healthcare workers, higher education professionals and public employees who have done amazing things over this past year.
 

Fighting for the Free, Fair Choice to Organize in the Workplace

Thu, 04/19/2018 - 5:30pm
Following years of advocacy, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in 2014 adopted rules to streamline union elections for working people in the private sector. The reform now faces significant risk from the Trump Administration's appointees to the federal agency overseeing the nation's employment laws. In response, the labor movement in Connecticut is escalating efforts to assure a harassment-free process for workers seeking a stronger voice on the job.
 

Public Sector Compensation Myths Debunked

Thu, 12/15/2016 - 1:00pm
A respected non-partisan research organization has exposed a deceptive attack on Connecticut public employees designed to diminish the effectiveness of the vital services they deliver. An Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study released last week discredits oft-repeated claims by anti-union special interests that public-sector workers in Connecticut are “overcompensated."
 
Click here for the study.
 

Labor Day 2016: Why America Needs a Strong Movement for Working People

Mon, 09/05/2016 - 12:30pm
Our national union president in her annual Labor Day message reminds us how a strong labor movement has helped workers, our communities, the economy and our democracy grow and thrive. Randi Weingarten additionally uses the occasion to call on all our members to join her in taking action to support policies that make it easier, not harder, to join a union:
 

Our Right to Work Together Under Assault

Fri, 01/08/2016 - 4:30pm
With the U.S. Supreme Court set Monday to hear oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA), efforts are underway to expose the case's threats to all working people. Union members on Wednesday attempted to deliver more than 100,000 petition signatures to the Washington, D.C. headquarters of Center for Individual Rights (CIR), one of the special interests behind the lawsuit.
 
Click here for a brief video of the petition delivery.
 
Syndicate content