Surfs Up!

On Wednesday we wore tuxes and gowns.
On Thursday we wore Red.

Wednesday we celebrated the inauguration of a new Governor, Executive Officers and General Assembly in Connecticut. We celebrated the incredible hard work of our members in electing so many pro worker legislators. Our members and all of Organized labor, joined by other progressive organizations, mobilized and succeeded in Connecticut and across the country.
There were a record number women, a record number of people of color, a record number of union members, a record diversity in religions represented and a record number of young people elected and working as activists in this election.
And on Wednesday we celebrated this in Connecticut.

Thursday we stood in solidarity with the Teachers of Los Angeles who, like the teaches in Chicago, Oklahoma, Arizona, West Virginia, and elsewhere, are taking a stand for education. They are prepared to strike for reasonable classroom sizes, school nurses, and social workers because their students deserve that.
Their struggle is mirrored in the struggle of our nurses and health professionals for workplace safety and adequate safe staffing.
Their struggle is also mirrored in the struggle of low wage workers for a living wage.

I see signs of optimism in both the celebration of Wednesday and the solidarity of Thursday.

Those who would deny workers a voice had great hope that the Janus Supreme Court decision would ruin the worker movement.
Instead, it further motivated a wave of activism that had already started.

Sisters and brothers, the wave is here.
Surfs up dude, grab the wave!