News

Department of Public Works (DPW) workers are often in the background of our bustling communities, but society would not function without these essential workers maintaining our roads and infr

Sept. 4, 2020, HARTFORD, CT -- With Labor Day 2020 around the corner,  a coalition of labor unions, including the Connecticut AFL-CIO, Connecticut Education Association (CEA), State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC), and Connecticut Service Employee International Union State Council (CT SEIU State Council), launched a television and digital ad campaign this week focused on a people’s recovery budget rather than billionaire bail-outs. 

Public approval of labor unions is at its highest level in 17 years, with nearly two out of three Americans (65%) expressing support of unions, according to the latest Gallup poll.

August 24, 2020: A coalition of unions representing more than 60,000 frontline employees in local and regional school districts across Connecticut held a virtual press conference today to issue health and safety standards for final "back to school" plans.

When Tropical Storm Isaias slammed into Connecticut Aug. 4, causing massive and prolonged outages, the people of Groton had a rapid return to normalcy that was foreign to hundreds of thousands of state residents.

How rapid? Roughly 90 percent of Groton was back on line by 11:30 p.m., less than 8 hours after the storm threw its knockout punch.

On Aug. 17, Council 4 members from three affiliated local unions representing employees at the Metropolitan District (MDC) in Hartford gathered under the hot sun at the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) in Rocky Hill.

They were surrounded by trucks carrying 24 pallets containing 45,000 bottles of water—an extraordinary donation from the MDC that will support DVA programs for more than 200 veteran residents and patients at the DVA campus and veterans Stand Down 2020 events around the state on September 25.

Click here for our latest Council 4 Unplugged podcast. 

On this episode, recorded Aug. 12, 2020, Michele Evermore of the National Employment Law Project and Xavier Gordon of AFSCME Local 269, representing the CT Department of Labor, join us to discuss the struggles facing unemployed workers and the political fight over unemployment insurance benefits.

We all know that an apple a day keeps the doctor away. During times like these, a nurse a day keeps COVID-19 at bay.

In March when public schools closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, staff nurses found themselves outside of their normal health offices but jumped into action to assist students, families, and their school districts. Across the state they juggled between their regular duties, such as ensuring high school seniors receive their college immunizations and coordinating annual physicals, while navigating entirely new ones.

It did not take long for the COVID-19 crisis to hit home for Ginny Ligi, an eight-year correction officer at the Cheshire Correctional Institution. In early April, she tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

“The virus literally knocked me off my feet for three weeks,” said Ligi, the union secretary for AFSCME Local 387 (NP-4 Corrections Bargaining Unit). “It was like I had vertigo on top of not being able to breathe well.”