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

We Are The Union: Celebrating Labor History At Yale With Yale’s Unions And Greater N.H. Labor History Association

Oct 24

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

By Joan Cavanagh, Archivist/Director GNHLHA

Commemorate the anniversary of the Yale workers’ first union effort; learn about the long history of labor struggles and victories at New Haven’s largest employer; and engage in a lively discussion about their impact on our community.

On Nov. 10, the Greater New Haven Labor History Association and HERE Locals 34, 35 and GESO host “We are the Union: Celebrating Labor History at Yale” from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Linsley Chittenden Hall, 63 High Street, Room 211. Professor Jennifer Klein will present opening remarks, followed by representatives of Locals 34, 35, GESO and the Labor History Association board.

The event takes place on the 69th anniversary of the first union strike at Yale. In her 1995 doctoral dissertation, Labor and the Left: the Limits of Acceptable Dissent at Yale University, 1920s to 1950s, Debbie Elkin gave the history of that strike.

On Oct. 17, 1941, Yale’s service workers, guards, maintenance and powerhouse employees had voted to join Local 142 of the United Construction Workers, C.I.O.  Although the Yale administration had agreed to recognize the union if it won the election, this did not automatically guarantee a contract. Elkin explains: “Negotiations broke down, in part over the issue of whether or not there would be a union shop, and in part [because] it seemed…that the administration still was not taking workers’ goals seriously.” Union organizer John Clark told Yale that Local 142  would not be demanding a union shop had its members not been the target of “intimidation and threats” both before and after the election.

Four hundred workers struck on Nov. 1 for one day. Elkin records that “the agreement to end the strike contained nothing about the union shop, but answered the union’s concern about threats by providing that any cases of intimidation, as well as other non-wage grievances that were not resolved through negotiations between the union and the administration, would be arbitrated by the Connecticut State Board of Mediation and Arbitration.” 

This was a small but significant victory in a struggle that spanned the 20th century and has now entered the 21st.

For more information about the Nov. 10 event, contact info@laborhistory.org; (203) 777-2756 Ext. 2; or visit www.laborhistory.org.

Tags: ,

New Haven/Leon Sister City Project

Oct 3

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Human Rights, Workers | No Comments

By Chris Schweitzer, NHLSCP

This October (until the 25th)  the New Haven/Leon Sister City Project will again be bringing our Nicaraguan staff to Connecticut. They will be available for presentations and discussions on a range of topics related to our work,  including:

  • Rural community life and development issues, with a focus on the community of Goyena outside Leon.
  • The struggle between sugar cane workers and Nicaragua Sugar Estates, Ltd., over the epidemic of chronic renal insufficiency and the resulting death of 1500 workers (see http://www.newhavenleon.org/us_solidarity). 
  • Impact of climate change on rural communities  (Goyena was displaced by Hurricane Mitch in 1998) and other environmental issues impacting the rural communities.
  • Education in Nicaragua

Our presentations tend to tie together the realities faced by Nicaraguans and broader systemic political and economic forces. We also like to invite discussion and encourage participants to get further involved in efforts for social justice.  But we’re open to structuring the presentations to meet the needs of a group, and we can also present on other topics related to Latin America not mentioned above.

Also, if you’re interested in our One World House exhibit  – which invites students to learn about climate change and its impact on rural communities – please see www.newhavenleon.org/earthathon.

If you are interested in any of the above, please contact Chris at (203) 562-1607 (mornings are best) or nh@newhavenleon.org. To get a better sense of our work see www.newhavenleon.org.

Tags: , , ,

CT Humanities Council Awards Grant To Labor History Association For First Phase Of Winchester Workers Exhibit

Oct 3

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

By Joan Cavanagh, GNHLHA Archivist/Director

The Connecticut Humanities Council has awarded a $6000 planning grant to the Greater New Haven Labor History Association (GNHLHA) to prepare images for its upcoming exhibit on workers at the old Olin-Winchester Plant in the Newhallville section of New Haven.

The images, including photographs and newspaper articles, will be digitized and re-mastered to exhibit quality by internationally acclaimed new media artist Cynthia Beth Rubin.

The plant closed in 2006, but the stories of its workers throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries have yet to be told. These stories–of labor struggles, workers’ culture within the plant, and the impact of the plant on the larger community–will form the raw material for the exhibit.

GNHLHA Board members Lula White, Dorothy Johnson, James Hoffecker and Mary Johnson have been conducting oral histories with retired Winchester workers since the early spring of this year. Information from those interviews will help create the text of the exhibit, which will be produced by the end of 2010.

The core of the exhibit will be based on photographs and documents from the International Association of Machinists Local 609 collection held in the Labor History Association’s archives. Local 609 represented workers at the plant from 1956 until its closure. Images from earlier years as well as from workers’ lives in the community will be culled from personal memorabilia.

The Association encourages anyone with relevant photographs, documents or newspaper articles to be in contact sending an email to joan@laborhistory.org or by calling (203) 777-2756, Ext. 2. Please be in touch as soon as possible as we are currently in the process of digitizing the images and writing text for the exhibit. GNHLHA’s website is www.laborhistory.org

Tags: , ,

Remember The UFW Boycott Actions In New Haven?

Aug 31

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

by Mary Johnson, GNHLHA

The Greater New Haven Labor History Association (GNHLHA) hopes that you do.

In the 1960s, the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) launched a grape boycott that inspired New Haven area residents (as well as people throughout the world) to join and help win good contracts in most of California’s vineyards. In the mid to late 1970s, a UFW Boycott staff person came to New Haven to organize boycott committees in Connecticut.

Almost immediately, the New Haven committee began picketing and leafleting at supermarkets urging customers to boycott fruits and vegetables grown by producers who refused to negotiate contracts with the UFW. All of these were successful.

Most memorable was the Gallo Boycott. The efforts of the New Haven Committee not only attracted a great deal of community support but received a very negative response, including physical violence, unfortunately initiated by some members of a rival union.

The California Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which became law in 1975, guaranteed farmworkers the right to bargain collectively. Gallo Wineries decided that it preferred its known adversary, the Teamsters, to the more militant, independent UFW. Gallo collaborated with the Teamsters to suppress the UFW.

The UFW called for a nationwide boycott of Gallo Wines. The New Haven UFW Boycott Committee, after months of picketing liquor stores on Orange Street, convinced three owners to remove Gallo Wines from their shelves.

When the picket lines moved to a liquor store on Whitney Avenue, Gallo salesmen as well as groups of men wearing jackets identifying themselves as supporters of a Teamsters Local, began observing us for several weeks. This culminated in the brutal beating of a 16 year UFW advocate. That incident and a tremendous show of community support for the boycott resulted in nationwide news coverage.

If you remember any of these and later activities, please call Mary at (203) 387-7858 or send your stories to info@laborhistory.org. GNHLHA would like to share them on its website. New Haven’s UFW boycott activities were part of a powerful and inspirational social change movement and we cannot afford to lose that history.

Please help. Thank you.

Tags: , , , , ,

Resist racial profiling from Arizona to Fair Haven

Jul 25

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

(contributed)

Resist racial profiling from Arizona to Fair Haven. Protest the enactment of SB1070.

There will be a rally at 6 p.m. July 28, in front of the Federal Courthouse at 141 Church St., in New Haven, CT.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s racist law, SB1070, has ignited a firestorm of protests around the country at the very time when immigrants, people of color and workers are standing up for justice. In addition to SB1070, which legalizes and enforces racial profiling and is aimed at all people of color in Arizona, the state has pased SB 2281, which bans ethnic studies from public classrooms and punishes critique of the American government and its international policy.

Other states reportedly are considering sililar moves. Many states and municipalities are seizing this opportunity to push through 287g, ‘Secure Communities’ and other ICE programs that destroy communities, tear apart families and intimidate workers.

These attacks come at a time when all people are suffering from the wave of budget cuts and mass unemployment that makes racism and anti-immigrant xenophobia so dangerous.

On July 29, 2010, the bill will be enacted. In solidarity with Arizona, coordinated actions throughout the country are being planned to show support for Arizona and to highlight local struggles of immigrants, people of color and workers.

For more information contact ulaccion@yahoo.com.

Labor History Month: Events in May

May 17

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

by Joan Cavanagh, Archivist/ Director, Greater New Haven Labor History Association

“Peter McGuire is often called the father of May Day. Congress had passed an 8-hour law in 1868, but President Chester A. Arthur refused to enforce it, and employers largely ignored it. McGuire concluded that there was only one way for workers to get an effective 8-hour law: [McGuire]: “…an enactment by the workingmen themselves that on a given day eight hours shall constitute a day’s work. And they ought to enforce it themselves.”
— Excerpt from “Voices of Working People’s History,”
by Massachusetts Jobs with Justice

The Greater New Haven Labor History Association will present a dramatic reading of “Voices of Working People’s History,” a 30-minute script about the origins of International Workers’ Day developed by Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 1st on the New Haven Green. The reading will help to kick off the annual celebration of May Day and begin Labor History Month.

The narrators are Tony Rosso and Frank Panzarella, with remaining speaking parts filled by other members of the Association. The “Greater New Haven Labor History Players” will reprise the reading at the Association’s annual membership meeting on Sunday, May 16th from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at 267 Chapel Street.

Joe Dimow and Mary Altieri are this year’s recipients of the Augusta Lewis Pass It On Award, given at the annual meeting to individuals or organizations who have contributed to local labor history and/or its preservation. Irm Wessel will present the award to Dimow, a veteran community activist who was a union steward in the United Auto Workers Union in the late 1930s. Anthony Riccio will give the award to Altieri, who was fired from Siegman Tie Company in the early 1930s for refusing to cross a picket line.

Finally, throughout the months of May and June, the Labor History Association’s exhibit, “New Haven’s Garment Workers: An Elm City Story” returns to New Haven from a successful tour around the state. It will be shown at Wachovia Bank, located at the corner of Church and Elm Streets, during the bank’s regular hours of 8:30 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

For more information, e-mail info@laborhistory.org, visit www.laborhistory.org, or call (203) 777-2756, Ext. 2.

Saturday, May 1, noon-7 p.m., New Haven Green May Day/International Workers’ Day

Apr 25

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

by Paula Panzarella, May Day Celebration Committee

On Saturday, May 1, the New Haven Green once again will come alive with speakers, artistic and musical events, and food. May Day is a multi-cultural festival that encourages community participation and is free and open to the public.

For the past 23 years, the May Day Celebration Committee has honored International Workers’ Day by organizing an annual event on the New Haven Green. 2010 is the 24th year of May Day on the Green. Immigration Reform Now, part of a unified, nationwide march, starts at Front Street and Grand Avenue near the Quinnipiac Bridge in the Fair Haven section of New Haven; meeting at 10:30 and departing at 11am.

In most countries, International Workers’ Day is celebrated as the official Labor Day. In New Haven, in these days of economic devastation, U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, covert wars, and assaults upon hard won political rights, we raise the old banner and say “Working people of all countries, unite!”

Volunteers are needed.

Rain space is United Church at The Parish House at 323 Temple Street.
For information, contact Jeff Spalter (203) 843-3069 or Shadow at (203) 606-2456
www.maydaynewhaven.org

The 2010 May Day celebration is made possible with the support of the City of New Haven Mayor’s Community Grants Program.

May Day Schedule of events on the Green

12:00 May Day Statement
12:05 Latin Music and Speeches
1:00 History of May Day by Greater New Haven
Labor History Association
(dramatic reading) www.laborhistory.org
1:30 Age Of Reason (Acoustic Rock)
www.AgeOfReasonMusic.com
1:50 Jane LaTour, Author, Sisters in the Brotherhood
2:00 Moonshine Kellie (Folk Rock)
2:20 Speak Out Time
2:30 Slam Poetry Master, Ngoma
www.NgomazWorld.com
2:50 Bread is Rising Poetry Collective
www.TheBreadIsRising.org
3:00 Capoeira demonstration by Master Efraim
www.ConnecticutCapoeira.com and
UrsaMajor.HartNet.org/iccd/artists/silva
3:20 Brandon McMahon (Contemporary Poet)
3:30 Joseph FireCrow (Native American music)
www.JosephFireCrow.com
4:00 Maypole Dance: Led by Out On A Whim
featuring Bill Fischer and Mickey Koth
4:30 Katie Wilson and the Low Tide Boys (Bluegrass
Music) www.KatieWilsonMusic.com
4:50 Speak Out Time
5:00 Eula (Alternative Rock) www.EulaMusic.com
5:20 Speak Out Time
5:30 Mista Mayday and The Hired Gun featuring West
Road (Conscious Rap Music)
MySpace.com/MistaMayDay
6:00 East Village Pharmacy (Latin Reggae from NYC)
www.EastVillagePharmacy.com

May Day/ International Workers’ Day, Saturday, May 1, New Haven Green

Mar 31

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Events, Human Rights, Workers | 1 Comment

by Paula Panzarella, May Day Celebration Committee

Come to the New Haven Green on Saturday, May 1 for the 24th annual May Day Celebration! Many peace, environmental, labor and social justice organizations will set up information tables and displays. Join in the Immigrants’ Rights March at 11 a.m. on Grand Avenue and Ferry Street, and march to the Green at noon. There will be a full day of music, poets, theater and speakers, an open mic, free vegetarian food, children’s activities and a Maypole dance.

All PAR-affiliate groups that want to be listed on the poster and web site for May Day on the Green should call (203) 843-3069 if you have not yet mailed in your registration. For further information about registration, schedule of events, setting up tables or displays and ways to volunteer, please call (203) 843-3069 or (203) 606-2456 or e-mail maydaynewhaven@yahoo.com.

In case of rain, the event will be held at United Church Parish House, 323 Temple Street (corner of Wall).

May Day Celebration Committee
P.O. Box 3371, New Haven, CT 06515
www.maydaynewhaven.org.

Oral History Project For Former Winchester Workers Launched

Mar 4

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Workers | No Comments

By Dorothy Johnson, GNH Labor History Association

I can’t count the number of people I have met who lived in the Newhallville area or worked at the former Winchester plant. My father was living in Birmingham, Alabama when plant managers headed to the South in hopes of recruiting potential workers to locate to New Haven, CT. Great numbers of people headed north for a better future for themselves and their families. Some of the workers who migrated to the North stayed at the former YMCA which was then located on Howe Street in walking distance to the plant.

Winchester has such a rich history. I remember when my family lived on Bassett Street and I would walk down to the plant, which at that time had factories on both sides of Winchester Avenue. This historic facility was a city inside a larger city. At noon you could hear the whistle blowing all over New Haven. Those were the good days.

Many positive changes did occur throughout the decades. The Greater New Haven Labor History Association is launching an oral history project for former Winchester workers to share their experiences while employed there. Victory Lodge 609 members stood up and fought back against the company numerous times. It certainly was an active journey the workers experienced. Now is the time you can share your untold story with others. The Winchester Plant may be gone, but the history is alive!

Interviews will kick off in the middle of March 2010. The committee has already contacted some former workers who are eager to tell the story. Please join us in this history event.

For more information about this project, please contact Dorothy Johnson or Lula White, (203) 281-0665, Mary Johnson (203) 387-7858, or e-mail laborhistory@gmail.com.

May Day: May 1 Is Only 2 Months Away

Mar 4

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Human Rights, Peace, Workers | No Comments

By Paula Panzarella

This year will be the 24th year that May Day will be celebrated on the New Haven Green. Many new activists have joined the May Day Celebration Committee and are ready for the challenge of continuing the annual tradition of celebrating labor solidarity, immigrant rights, justice, environmental concern, women’s rights, economic rights, etc. with speakers, information tables, music, poetry, free food and a Maypole dance on Saturday, May 1st. We hope all of PAR’s affiliated organizations will endorse May Day on the Green. Download the registration form here. Print it (on legal size for best results), and send it in.  For more information, visit http://www.maydaynewhaven.org, or call (203) 843-3069, (203) 606-2456. or e-mail maydaynewhaven@yahoo.com.

If PAR readers have video or photographs of last year’s May Day Celebration on the Green and the May Day march, please call (203) 562-2798. We would like them for our website. Thank you!

Bioregional/Transition Times News

Nov 27

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Energy, Human Rights, Workers | No Comments

– by Maria Tupper, New Haven Bioregional Group

The Transition Road Show is coming to SCSU, Monday, Nov. 30, 7:30 p.m. at the SCSU Adanti Student Center, Room 306, corner of Crescent and Fitch Streets. There will be entertainment, reflection, inspiration and dynamic participation all in one show! We’ll cover the problems (peak oil, climate change, economic meltdown) and look to the solutions (using our collective genius to create a sustainable community on a human scale). The Transition Movement is about connecting the dots and getting us from here to there (http://transitionus.org/).

The Bioregional Holiday Craft Fair will be held Saturday, Dec. 12, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the First UU Society, 608 Whitney Avenue. Come to our annual Holiday Craft Fair. We have a variety of artisans who will be selling their local crafts. Support our local crafts people and socialize while you browse.

Read the rest of this entry »

Keep The Ball Rolling

Nov 27

Posted by Progressive Action Roundtable in Healthcare, Human Rights, Workers | No Comments

– by Joelle Fishman, People’s Weekly World

As this edition of the PAR Newsletter is issued, the time for “Keep the Ball Rolling… to win jobs with union rights, health care, peace and equality!” will be just around the corner. It is an event that promises to inspire.

This annual reception on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party USA kicks off a year-long celebration leading up to a concert in December, 2010. A sampling of music forms will be presented on Sunday, December 6 to share a multi-cultural presentation.

Performers will include Irish and union songwriter Bill Collins, world-class bass performer Jeff Fuller, percussionist and drummer Richard Hill, and poets
Ras Mo Moses and Baub Bidon. A selection will also be offered by a young women’s singing group.

The music is part of a program at which three Amistad awards will be presented for grass roots leadership and organizing. The awards are being presented to: Art Perry, political director for SEIU 32 BJ, Justice for Janitors; Anna Montalvo, president of AFSCME Local 1522 in Bridgeport which has collaborated with the community on a neighborhood front; and Gwen Mills, political director of Unite – HERE in Connecticut and Rhode Island .

The program will open with a video prepared on the occasion of the 90th anniversary, which will highlight today’s activism. A homemade buffet is also part of the afternoon. A holiday gift table will also be on hand. Suggested donation is $10 or what you can afford. This will be on Sunday, December 5, 4:00 p.m. at the New Haven Peoples Center, 37 Howe Street . For more information, call 203-624-8664.

Keep The Ball Rolling — 90th Anniversary of the Communist Party USA

Nov 20

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

– Joelle Fishman, People’s Weekly World

“Keep the Ball Rolling…to win jobs with union rights, health care, peace and equality!” is the theme for this year’s anniversary reception, ad book and presentation of Amistad Awards by the People’s Weekly World on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party USA.  The reception will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009, at the Peoples Center, 37 Howe St., New Haven.

The event will celebrate the contributions of three grass roots leaders mobilizing for social change.  Honorees are:  Art Perry, political director of SEIU 32 BJ, Justice for Janitors, who inspires workers to stick together, organize and stand up for their rights on a daily basis.  Anna Montalvo, president of AFSCME Local 1522, who is in the forefront of the battle to save jobs and services and raise living standards through member mobilization, community involvement and political activism.  Gwen Mills, political field director of Unite-Here in Connecticut and Rhode Island, is devoted to building community labor alliances at the local level to win a grass roots community agenda.

Organizations and individuals are invited to participate in a greeting book recognizing the honorees or those who have gone before, and highlighting ongoing work.  Deadline is November 20.  Rates are one page – $125; half page – $65; quarter page – $35; name – $10.  Send to:  People’s Weekly World, 37 Howe Street, New Haven, CT 06511

The event will highlight the need for broad grass roots education, organization and mobilization to follow up on the historic 2008 elections and pressure Congress to meet the needs of the people in this economic crisis, and bring the troops home.

Music will be provided by Bill Collins, Ras Mo Moses, Jeff Fuller and Richard Hill.  There will also be an international holiday gift table and a home made buffet.

Tickets are $10 (or what you can afford).  For more information call (203) 624-8664.