Negotiations stall at UConn, graduate employees organize sit-in
By UCONN YOUTH FOR SOCIALIST ACTION Since Oct. 19, 2017, University of Connecticut’s Graduate Employee Union-UAW Local 6950 has been in negotiations with the university administration for a second collective bargaining agreement. Under the leadership of university President Susan Herbst’s administration and the state appointed Board of Directors, the university has hired the union-busting law…
Iraq veteran runs for U.S. Senate: Vote Socialist Action!
By DANIEL ADAM Ten years after the crash of 2008, a refreshing growth in unionization and militant strikes shows promise of developing into a new wave of working-class action. This follows years of struggle against police murder and a wave of protest that began with 4 million marching for women’s rights. Tens of thousands flooded…
Connecticut activists assemble at Climate Justice Teach-in
WEST HARTFORD, Conn.—On Feb. 24, around 170 crowded into the Elmwood Community Center here to hear, as the promotional material described the event, “Experts and activists exploring some of the toughest questions facing the climate movement.” Jacqui Patterson, the director of the national NAACP’s Environmental and Justice Program, told the stories of individual people of…
Hilton hotel workers walk out for a good contract
By ERNIE GOTTA — STAMFORD, Conn. — Workers at the Stamford Hilton Hotel walked off the job Thursday, March 8, to strike for a good contract. They picketed in front of the entry way for nearly two hours, chanting, “No contract, No Peace.” [See the video: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.abbe.7/videos/10214115775642871/ ] Members of International Women’s Strike Connecticut joined…
Fred ‘Mitch’ Linck: Why I am running for U.S. Senator from Connecticut
By MITCH LINCK Fred “Mitch” Linck is the Socialist Action candidate for the U.S. Senate from Connecticut. I want to talk a little about what I learned from my time in Iraq, and how it can help us understand our situation today. By the time I was 17, there was no one who could tell…
Victory! Hilton workers in Stamford, Conn., vote “yes,” form union
By ERNIE GOTTA (Socialist Action) and WILLIAM LEWIS (Left Voice) On Monday, Dec. 4, workers at the Hilton Stamford Hotel voted overwhelmingly in favor of forming a union. With 110 for and only five against, it was a great victory for workers’ power and promises a better future for over 120 workers. The workers decided…
UConn students respond to alt-right speech on campus
By UCONN YOUTH FOR SOCIALIST ACTION On Dec. 1, University of Connecticut (UConn) students organized a march and rally in response to their perception of the university administration’s inadequate action in relation to a white nationalist speaker on campus four days earlier. That night, Nov. 28, the UConn College Republicans hosted alt-right spokesperson Lucian Wintrich.…
Students confront Stamford hotel management
By CONNECTICUT STUDENTS — STAMFORD, Conn. — On Nov. 27, a delegation of students from across Connecticut arrived to tell management at the Hilton Hotel in Stamford that they stand in solidarity with the workers organizing a union. The union vote will take place Dec. 4 after three weeks of management’s anti-union intimidation campaign. We…
Rank and file take on company intimidation meetings in Stamford union drive
By ERNIE GOTTA — STAMFORD, Conn. — It’s 9 p.m. on a Monday night, and Marvin Castaneda, a union banquet server at the Hyatt hotel, is making phone calls to Hilton hotel workers. Initially, he leaves messages. Any unrecognizable number the Hilton workers won’t pick up. They think it might be the company or one of…
Educational conferences reflect growing interest in socialist ideas
Connecticut: ‘Solution is Socialism’ By KEITH LESLIE — NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — On Nov. 4, Socialist Action Connecticut and the Central Connecticut State University Youth for Socialist Action held their second annual conference, entitled “The Solution is Socialism.” More than 100 workers, students, and activists from as far away as Alabama turned out for a…
Why Hilton housekeepers need a union
By ERNIE GOTTA In the coming weeks Hilton Hotel workers in Stamford, Conn., will likely face a serious attempt by the bosses to bust their campaign for union recognition. In past union drives the bosses have paid millions of dollars to law firms that specialize in union busting. The owners of the hotel would rather…
Hilton hotel workers in Stamford, Conn., demand a union!
By HENRY ERIC and C.J. LAPOINTE “Over 85% of us have decided to form this union!” Lupe Martinez, a banquet server, declared as a mass of workers from the Hilton Hotel in Stamford, Conn., confronted General Manager Robert Langevin with their demand for union recognition. The workers’ cheers filled the lobby as Langevin stood there,…
Fast food workers walked out on Labor Day 2017
By ANN MONTAGUE On this year’s Labor Day, Sept. 4, there were more marches and rallies than in previous years. Several U.S. cities had large labor actions anchored in fast-food walkouts. Britain saw its first strikes against McDonald’s Corporation; activists chose U.S. Labor Day as a nod to the birthplace of the Fight For 15…
Connecticut refuses key steps on climate
By CHRISTINE MARIE Many cheered when Connecticut joined other states in proclaiming that they would stick to the Paris Agreement although the U.S. was pulling out. Unfortunately, the limits of that gesture became clear very soon. On July 26, the Connecticut Department of Energy and the Environment released a long-awaited report, a draft Comprehensive Energy Strategy. The…
Family and community demand answers in Connecticut police brutality case
By CHRIS HUTCHINSON The police shooting of 18-year-old Ra’Shamel Rogers on March 9 in Waterbury, Conn., has mobilized community members in support of his family to demand answers and a transparent investigation. Ra’Shamel was unarmed and shot three times, twice in the abdomen and once in the lungs. Police are trying to justify the shooting…
Connecticut activists demand 100% renewable energy, jobs and justice
By SUSAN ROGERS “To Change Everything, It Takes Everyone!” Under this mantra of the new climate justice movement, 400 Connecticut activists joined a “March for Jobs, Justice, and a Livable Earth” on Dec. 3. Picket signs carried the slogans voted up by the planning committee and included: Emergency Transition to 100% Renewable Energy Grid! Mass…
‘Solution is Socialism’ conference draws students
By CHRISTINE MARIE — NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — An ambitious Youth for Socialist Action educational conference drew close to 100 participants, including students from at least six different colleges, to Central Connecticut State University on Saturday, Oct. 22. The conference was opened by the past president of the CCSU YSA, David Kiely, who said that…
Supreme Court dashes immigrants’ hopes
By GRACE MONTESI On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court tied 4-4 regarding an immigration action taken by President Obama in 2014. The decision left in place a lower court’s ruling that had blocked implementation of the program. Officials in our so-called democratic system have once again disregarded the immigrant rights movement and let down…
Verizon workers fight corporate greed
By MIKE PINHO and BILL ONASCH On April 13, nearly 40,000 Verizon workers on the East Coast, from Maine to Virginia, walked off the job. In the largest U.S. strike in five years, workers from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) walked out in response to the…
Connecticut march protests austerity budget
By CHRISTINE MARIE — HARTFORD — On April 4, nearly 1000 union workers, community organizations, Fight for Fifteen activists, and allies organized as the Democracy, Unity and Equality Coalition marched on the Connecticut state legislature to protest two austerity budgets in front of the representatives.
New developments in Palestine struggle
By ERNIE GOTTA In February, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Mohammed al-Qeeq, an imprisoned Palestinian journalist on his 85th day of hunger strike. Al-Qeeq had asked to be transferred to a Palestinian hospital in the West Bank. Directly following this decision, however, a partial victory was won in the case of Palestinian American activist Rasmea…
