par-newhaven.org

Progressive Action Roundtable: A forum for progressive groups in the Greater New Haven Area where actions and ideas may be publicized so that others are aware of peace, health, justice, energy, environmental and other issues for the common good.

Archive for category Workers

Labor and Community Spring Offensive! International Workers’ Day Celebration Sunday, May 6

May 2

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Events, Workers | No Comments

International Workers’ Day on Sunday, May 6

– By Joelle Fishman, People’s World

It is very exciting that many groups and individuals are joining together this spring to organize on behalf of the 99% for the future of our country.

As a part of this great effort, the People’s World in Connecticut is hosting an annual celebration of International Workers’ Day on Sunday, May 6 at 4 p.m. at the Peoples Center, 37 Howe Street, New Haven.

The afternoon will include a slide show of May Day Around the World and solidarity messages from Connecticut workers on strike or in organizing drives.  A Labor-Community Organizing panel will share experiences in the on-going  struggles for jobs and union rights, ending racial profiling and attacks on women, ending the wars, taxing the 1% and preparing for the 2012 elections.

There will also be music and a home made buffet to round out the family day. Tickets are $5 or what you can afford,. No one will be turned away.

This is a fund raiser toward the annual $10,000 People’s World Connecticut fund drive goal to keep the paper going and growing with working class news and views.  All donations, from $5 to $500, are welcomed and appreciated.

To reserve tickets or for info, e-mail: ct-pww@pobox.com or call (203) 624-8664.

Tags: , ,

Labor History Association Annual Meeting June 3 to Feature Special Guest John Wilhelm, President of Unite Here

May 2

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Events, Workers | No Comments

– By Joan Cavanagh, Archivist, GNH Labor History Association

The annual conference and meeting of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association will be held on Sunday, June 3rd from 1:30-5 p.m. at the New Haven Labor Council/ Teachers Building, 267 Chapel Street, New Haven.

This year’s two Augusta Lewis Troup Preservation Award winners are the late Vincent Sirabella, long time leader of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees union and the struggle to unionize workers at Yale University in the 1970s; and Anthony Riccio, author of ”The Italian American Experience in New Haven” and “Cooking with Chef Silvio.” John Wilhelm, president of UNITE HERE, will give the posthumous award to Mr. Sirabella, along with a presentation about his role in labor history. Steve Kass, member of the GNHLHA Executive Board and coordinator of the labor history in the schools legislative initiative, will present the award to Mr. Riccio.

The event will also include a tribute to the late David Montgomery and a preliminary conversation about the pros and cons of transitioning to become the Connecticut Labor History Association.

The event is free to all current GNHLHA members with a $10 suggested donation from all others. More details will be posted on our web site (www.laborhistory.org) and sent by email and postal mail closer to the event. In the meantime, please take this opportunity to join GNHLHA or to renew your yearly membership (due May 1, 2012 and renewable April 30, 2013) by making your check out to GNHLHA and mailing it to 267 Chapel Street, New Haven CT 06513.

Dues are: $25 for individuals; $100 for organizations of 100 members of less; $250 for organizations of 101—300 members; and $500 for organizations with over 300 members.

Tags: , ,

Tuesday, May 1st, May Day on the Green

May 2

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Events, Workers | No Comments

– By Jeff  Spalter, May Day Celebration Committee

Come celebrate May Day, International Workers’ Day, Tuesday, May 1, from noon until 6 p.m. on the New Haven Green. This is the 26th consecutive year of May Day on the Green. May Day is a multi-cultural participatory festival featuring live music, poetry, dance, children’s activities, speak-out time, a Maypole Dance, free vegetarian food and displays and information tables from local labor, peace, social service and social justice groups. May Day concludes with a March for Jobs, Dignity and Justice at 6 p.m.

Our performers on the Green include the incredible I Anabassa, a reggae band with a powerful message, at 5 p.m. The Amazing Andy will perform magic and juggling at 12:30 p.m. Grammy award winning Joseph FireCrow will bring the excitement of Native American flute and storytelling to the Green at 3:30 p.m. Bill Fischer and Out On a Whim will lead our Maypole Dance at 4 p.m., the highlight of the day. Imagine a Maypole 20 feet tall with enough streamers for 40 dancers, weaving an intricate pattern around the pole. At 4:30 we are honored to present Ngoma, a masterful poet, musician and performance artist from NYC.

Come celebrate May Day, International Workers’ Day, Tuesday, May 1st from noon until 6 p.m. on the New Haven Green. It’s free. It’s entertaining and it’s a great excuse to take a day off from work.

In case of rain, May Day will be held indoors at the United Church on the Green, 270

Temple Street, corner of Temple and Elm.

For more information check out our web site at www.maydaynewhaven.org or call (203) 843-3069.

Tags: , , ,

Teaching Labor History Legislative Effort’s Good Start

Apr 2

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

by Steve Kass, GNH Labor History Task Force

Teaching Labor History in the Connecticut public schools legislation received a public hearing in the education committee of the Connecticut state legislature on March 5, 2012. This legislative effort initiated by the Greater New Haven Labor History Association had strong support from the Connecticut AFL-CIO and many statewide unions.

More than 10 people testified in favor of Senate Bill 304 sponsored by Senate Majority leader Martin Looney (11th District) and State Representative Roland Lemar (96th District). Specifically, the bill calls for the teaching of “labor history and law, including the history of organized labor, the collective bargaining process and existing legal protections in the workplace.” In fact, Martin Looney felt so strongly about the bill, he took the unusual step of testifying himself and citing personal family union history.

Considering the bill was introduced in a short session during a pressing debate on the most significant educational reform bill in 30 years, it did quite well for a first attempt. Usually the first time a bill is introduced, the main task is lining up support and generating publicity about the legislation. By any measure, this first organizing effort was a success.

Planning will continue with the Teaching Labor History Task Force for a second attempt in next year’s legislative session. All are welcome to join. To take part, please visit Labor History in the Schools web page where you can sign up to receive meeting announcements and updates.

Tags:

April 4 Jobs Not Jails March

Jan 29

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

By Deb Malatesta, ANSWER CT

On April 4th ANSWER CT will be sponsoring a Jobs Not Jails march and demonstration in solidarity with many others around the country.
Despite having only 5 percent of the world’s population the United States contains 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated persons, with 2 million people imprisoned. This is over one million more than the nation with the next largest prison population.

Driven by the ruinous, so-called, “War on Drugs,” the mass incarceration epidemic is disproportionately aimed at poor and working class communities, particularly those that are mostly Black. Just over 35% of those in prison are Black, despite Blacks representing roughly 13 percent of the population. 21.2 percent of those incarcerated in the United States are there for non-violent drug offenses. Many non-violent offenders are addicts, who are criminalized rather then treated for their addiction. The proliferation of “supermax” prisons around the country has rapidly increased the number of prisoners subjected to prolonged isolation. Long-term isolation is widely considered akin to torture. As one report puts it prolonged isolation can cause: “anxiety, depression, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, obsessive thoughts, paranoia, and psychosis.” Without hope for meaningful jobs and opportunity we can never hope to end this crisis of mass incarceration,  to demand: End the Drug War Now! Release All Non-Violent Drug Offenders!

End Exploitation of Prisoners Families! End Inhumane Living Conditions in Prisons! Jobs not Jails!

For more information on getting involved in the Jobs Not Jails march and demonstration or to sponsor or endorse the demonstration contact Chris or Deb at 203 903-4480.

Tags:

March 3, Discussion and Book-Signing with Jeremy Brecher, Author of Save the Humans?: Common Preservation in Action

Jan 29

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

By Joan Cavanagh, Archivist/ Director, Greater

New Haven Labor History Association

“I had of course heard about the sit-down strikes and the   great industrial union organizing campaigns of the 1930s, though there was actually very little historical writing about them available in the 1960s. I had heard of the ‘Haymarket riots,’ but I didn’t know that more than half a million workers struck in 1886, many of them in a nationwide general strike for the eight-hour day. I had heard of labor leader and socialist candidate Eugene Victor Debs, but I didn’t know anything about the huge strikes in all basic industries—steel, coal, and railroads—in the mid-1890s. Nor did I know anything about the big strike waves during and after World War I and World War II. And I couldn’t find a single book or article dealing with such periods as a general phenomenon…

“Such actions called up for me a vision of how ordinary people might liberate themselves from those who oppressed them. They showed people who had been divided and apparently powerless coming together for what I would later call common preservation. It showed them confronting and sometimes defeating the greatest powers in the land. Could that story, I wondered, still be relevant?”

In his newest book, historian, activist, writer (and member for life of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association), Jeremy Brecher answers that question with a resounding “Yes!” Save the Humans? is a multi-layered, nuanced tour de force through the history of 20th and early 21st century movements for “Common Preservation,” as well as an earnest plea that we apply the lessons learned from them to confront today’s global threats.

There will be a discussion and book-signing with Jeremy in the community room of the New Haven Public Library, 133 Elm Street, from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, March 3 The event is cosponsored by the library and the Greater New Haven Labor History Association.

Tags:

U.S. Trade Union Research Delegation to Cuba: April 25-May 2, 2012

Jan 29

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

By Al Marder, GNH Peace Council

With U.S. Labor for Friendship with Cuba as a program consultant, Marazul Charters, Inc. is organizing a research delegation to Cuba for full-time trade unionists:  April 25 -May 2, 2012.

The research goals of the delegation are to (1) learn how the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), Workers’ Central Union of Cuba, the country’s national trade union federation, is working with the new economic policies within the context of socialism; (2) learn first-hand from Cuban workers about the accomplishments and new challenges of a different economic system than our own; (3) be apprised by the CTC about the effects of the 50-year old U.S. economic blockade against the Cuban people, and; (4) learn how full economic and trade relations between the U.S. and Cuba could help workers from both countries by providing economic opportunities.

The U.S. government continues to impose restrictions on travel to Cuba. But under a General License already issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, full-time professionals are permitted to travel to Cuba to conduct research in their fields. To qualify under the General License for professional research for this particular delegation, you must work full time as an appointed or elected official of a labor union or be an academic in this field.

The cost of the program is approximately $1,600 for double occupancy and $1,700 for single occupancy, which includes round trip air fare from Miami to Havana, a Cuban visa, hotel accommodations, breakfast daily, several additional meals, a bi-lingual guide, and a full research program. Delegates are responsible for their own air fare to and from Miami. The research program will include exchanges with CTC leaders and rank and file Cuban union members, visits to hospitals, labor unions, the Lazaro Pena School of the Cuban Workers, work sites, and the observance of Cuba’s May Day celebration on May 1st. The deadline for all applications is Friday, April 13, 2012.

If you are interested, or know someone who is interested and  who meets the above qualifications, contact Marazul Charters at info@marazul.com. Marazul Charters will send you details on the arrangements, the qualifications, as well as the application form.

Tags: , , ,

Crewel Linen: Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Dec 29

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

– Stephen Kobasa, West Cove Studio Collective

At the end of last year, marking the centennial of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in which 146 workers died, a commemorative installation went on view at the A-Space Gallery of the West Cove Studio Collective in West Haven.

Created by the Connecticut artist Cate Bourke, the work entitled “Crewel Linen: Unfinished Business” is made up of an eight foot length of white cotton shirtwaist cloth for every one of the women who was killed. Each is embroidered with the name of an individual victim. According to Bourke, each hanging “takes on a figurative quality; light (natural and directed) picks up movement as shadows, and the collective effect …is like ghostly apparitions in quiet but moving solidarity.”

Each panel marked with a name is, Bourke says, “an invitation to a local artisan/stitcher to research more deeply the person whose signature panel he or she takes in hand in…The local stitcher may fill a signature outline, add images, words/numbers to the panel, draw threads” to illuminate the life that was lost. Background information available at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire archives includes names, countries of origin, dates of immigration, as well as more moving details such as one victim’s life savings of $800 being found stuffed into her sock.

The installation will be on view in West Haven through February 29. After that, Bourke hopes that it will travel to other venues where it will extend the collaboration with local needle workers through such groups as the Embroidery Guild of America (EGA), the American Needlepoint Guild (ANG) and the Sampler Guilds, as well as with the support of labor organizations such as Unite Here! which has already helped to underwrite the project.

Stephen Kobasa coordinates the A-Space Gallery for  the West Cove Studio Collective at 33 Elm Street in West Haven. For information about membership and print-making workshops contact Roy Smith at (609) 638-8501.

Tags: ,

New Haven Worker’s Association/ULA celebrates its 2011 victories for worker’s rights

Dec 29

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

– Megan Fountain, ULA

Downtown the Taft Restaurant is paying a $50,000 settlement to six former kitchen workers, who led a boycott against the restaurant for failure to pay minimum wage and overtime. The cook staff worked more than 70 hours per week but received only $4 – $6 per hour and some weeks were not paid at all.

In 2011, more than 70 workers have received assistance from New Haven Worker’s Association / Unidad Latina en Acción to recover stolen wages in restaurants, retail, construction, landscaping and agriculture. The workers have been white, Latino and African American, both citizens and immigrants. Through boycotts, direct actions, and complaints to the Department of Labor, the association has helped workers recover more than $80,000 in unpaid minimum wage and overtime this year.

A press conference Tuesday, Dec. 27, took place outside Lisy’s Discount Furniture, formerly called Mario’s Discount Furniture, where a former worker is suing for more than $5,000 in unpaid wages and damages. Ana Aranda was paid less than $2 per hour, and when she delivered a lawsuit to Mario’s Discount Furniture in West Haven last Tuesday, Dec. 20, the manager told us that the owners could be found every day at the Ella Grasso Blvd. location.

Tags: , ,

Jobs for Youth — Jobs for All

Dec 1

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

— Joelle Fishman, People’s World

After a march of 200 for youth jobs and a press conference of nearly 100 at the Q House for infrastructure jobs, remembering all the youth who have died violently this year, the youth are getting ready to rally. The location is the Jobs for Youth – Jobs for All! Amistad Awards on December 4 at 4 p.m. at Co-op High School, on the corner of College and Crown Streets.

The People’s World will present awards to Renae Reese, director of the Connecticut Center for a New Economy, Delphine Clyburn, 1199 steward and alderwoman-elect from Ward 20, and Pastor Abraham Hernandez of the Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care.

Cultural presentations by the youth, produced by poet Baub Bidon, will include hip hop dancers, poets, jazz and song, as well as video and photos of the youth march for jobs organized in New Haven just before election day by New Elm City Dream.

The spirit of the 99% is sure to fill the auditorium. The event takes place in the midst of a people’s upsurge against corporate rule and the largest economic divide since the great depression of the 1930′s. Massive public works jobs to restart the economy and meet the needs of communities paid for by taxing the rich and ending the wars will be on the agenda of the day.

This annual event is hosted by the People’s World in Connecticut on the 92nd anniversary of the Communist Party USA, with a long history in the fight for good jobs with union representation and benefits.

Tickets are $10 (a youth ticket for $1 is available). For more information call (203) 624-8664.

Tags: , , ,

Amistad Awards: Jobs for Youth – Jobs for All!

Oct 29

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

– Joelle Fishman, People’s World

“Jobs for Youth – Jobs for All!” Is the theme of this year’s People’s World Amistad Awards rally to be held Sunday, December 4, 2011 at 4 p.m. at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, 177 College Street, New Haven. Cultural presentations by New Haven high school students will be featured.

The event will celebrate the contributions and example of three wonderful leaders and role models who challenge economic inequality and are in the forefront of organizing for jobs, health care and opportunities for youth. Renae Reese is director of the Connecticut Center for a New Economy and past director of ConnectiCOSH. Delphine Clyburn is a Local 1199 steward, Newhallville neighborhood organizer and Alderwoman-elect in Ward 20. Pastor Abraham Hernandez is a leader of the Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care and promotes jobs and political representation in the Puerto Rican and African American community.

The rally will bring people together in hope and unity to reject bigotry and fear and build the growing movement to pass national jobs legislation, rebuild the American Dream and put people before profits.

Recognition will be given to the Youth March for Jobs being held on the New Haven Green on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 5:30 p.m. The annual awards are presented to allies by the People’s World on the occasion of the 92nd anniversary of the Communist Party USA.

Tickets are $10. To reserve tickets or participate in the greeting book and recognize the recipients, honor those who have gone before, and celebrate the leadership coming forward from youth today, contact the event committee at 203-624-8664. The deadline for ad copy is Nov. 19, 2011.

Family Work History Project, Phase II

Oct 4

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

– Paula Panzarella, Project Coordinator, Family Work History Project

Last Spring, Christine Saari, the Outreach Coordinator of the Greater New Haven Labor History Association (GNHLHA), initiated a wonderfully successful labor history program with students from Worthington Hooker and Katherine Brennan schools.  Almost one hundred sixth and eighth-grade social studies students learned how to conduct interviews with their parents and elders about work and wrote essays based on the interviews. The essays were used to create a composite performance piece with music and song by Mike Kachuba, which was performed by the students on the New Haven Green on May 1.

GNHLHA will be building on the success of last year’s program and has revised the Family Work History Project in order to reach a greater number of teachers and students. As the project coordinator, I will visit fifteen social studies classes in Connecticut to introduce the teachers to the Family Work History Project and provide them with material so they can create a Family Work History Project with their students.

I look forward to helping the students discover their “inner journalist” as they gain an understanding and appreciation of labor history. If you have suggestions of social studies teachers for me to contact, please e-mail me at paulapanzarella@gmail.com or call (203) 562-2798.

In other labor history news: PAR readers may remember that in the September issue of this newsletter, Steve Kass of the executive board of GNHLHA wrote about the plan to develop legislation that would mandate the teaching of labor history in Connecticut’s public schools.  The first meeting of the task force will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 5 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Labor Council/ Teachers’ Building, 267 Chapel Street, New Haven. To get involved in working on legislation, contact Steve Kass at steve@laborhistory.org, or call the GNHLHA office, (203) 777-2756, ext. 2 and leave a message for Steve.

Tags: ,

Labor History In The Schools

Aug 31

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

– Steve Kass, Exec. Board Member, GNH Labor History Association

“The history of the American labor movement needs to be taught in every school in this land…. America is a living testimonial to what free men and women organized into free democratic trade unions can do to make a better life…. we ought to be proud of it.” – Hubert H. Humphrey, Vice President 1965-69

Following the lead of the Wisconsin labor history association that organized the passing of the historic Wisconsin legislation in 2009, mandating the teaching of labor history in the public schools (first in the nation), the Greater New Haven Labor History Association (GNHLHA) is introducing the same legislation in Connecticut.

The purpose of the legislation is to get labor’s untold story told. According to a poll by the independent Hart research, 54 percent of adults said they know just a little or don’t know much about unions. They said their chief sources of knowledge were personal experience (37 percent), people in unions (26 percent) and the media (25 percent). Significantly, learning in school was not even mentioned.

The implications of these numbers are clear. To a very large degree, Americans are uninformed or misinformed about the labor movement and the role that workers have played, and do play, in our nation’s economic, political and cultural life.

Academic standards and curriculum resources such as textbooks have historically ignored or been deficient in their treatment of workers and the labor movement. Significantly, many teachers want to cover this history in their classrooms, but there are few written curriculum standards by local and state educational institutions to encourage the teaching this material.

Therefore, the GNHLHA proposes legislation that sets standards to teach labor history in the public schools of Connecticut.

The first meeting of the task force to work on getting this legislation passed in Connecticut will be held on Wednesday, October 5 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Labor Council/ Teachers Building, 267 Chapel Street, New Haven. Join us in the effort to pass legislation implementing the teaching of labor history in Connecticut public schools. To get involved, contact Steve Kass, Task Force Committee Chair: steve@laborhistory.org, or call the Labor History office and leave a message for Steve, (203) 777-2756, Ext. 2.

Tags: