Press Room

On Sunday, Dec. 4, the Middletown Police Department announced that Officer Matt Silvestrini, who had fought a long battle with brain cancer, died Saturday.

AFSCME Local 1522 and its parent union, Council 4, applauded a ruling this month by the state labor board that found

The members of AFSCME Local 2422, a union representing 50 city hall workers in Norwich, are hoping to lift up the community they serve during the holiday season.  

Union members voted to expand their annual holiday giving program this year by selecting 11 local organizations to receive $100 donations. Those organizations are: 

HARTFORD – As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Connecticut and across the country, leaders of the Board of Education Union Coalition today presented a petition signed by nearly 14,000 education and community members urging the state to take immediate steps to protect the health of students, staff and communities.

With the surging COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) infection rate — the highest since May — consistent statewide safety protocols must be established and strictly enforced, along with uniform transparency in reporting and responding to cases, for schools. If that's not possible, Connecticut must shift to full-time remote learning until after the holidays. Those are some of the required statewide steps outlined in the Board of Education (BOE) Union Coalition's "Safe and Successful Schools Now," report released today.

The coalition of unions representing over 60,000 public education employees, which includes Council 4, issued the following response to state guidance yesterday regarding local school building COVID-19-related closures:
 

"The joint memo from the commissioners of the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) and Department of Public Health (DPH) contradicts our 'core principles' for assuring students' and staff health and safety.

With a formal labor board hearing coming soon, the union representing Putnam school paraprofessionals, custodians and food service workers is calling on the Board of Education to rescind an agreement to outsource custodial employees.

In June, the Board of Education voted to enter into an agreement with ABM Industries, a national company based out of New York City, that Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) alleges is unlawful.

HARTFORD, CT — The 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), released its second ad focusing on a People’s Recovery budget and standing in opposition to more billionaire bailouts. 

Frontline public employees featured in the ad include Department of Correction employees Sherine Bailey and Aimmee Reyes-Greaves of AFSCME Local 391 and Ginny Ligi of AFSCME Local 387.

New Britain, CT–Organized labor in Connecticut criticized the Lamont administration for allowing the Department of Labor to enter into a no-bid agreements with two Virginia-based corporations, including Maximus, a Rowland-era privateer with a reputation for poaching safety net services. 

Unbeknownst to the public and to the State Contracting Standards Board, which is supposed to review contracts with outside vendors, the DOL has privatized Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) functions currently performed by agency employees represented by AFSCME Local 269. 

Just days after the majority of Connecticut students physically returned to the classroom, more than a dozen school districts across the state reported positive COVID-19 cases. From Newington to Naugatuck, Waterbury to Glastonbury, and East Hartford to West Haven, varying degrees of action have been taken at each impacted building. Some have shut down completely, others isolated cohorts of students and put classes in quarantine, some moved to all distance learning, and others did little or nothing.