We control the means of production

We were on the strike lines this week in New England, supporting our sisters and brothers of UFCW who work at Stop & Shop, a large regional food store chain. They are fighting not for more, but to minimize what they stand to lose in pay and healthcare, all while their company turns a profit for it’s forgiven owners. Members of other unions and the public are behind them, with donations of food and money. AFT Connecticut and AFSCME Council 4 voted to donate $2500 each and follow that with another $500 each per week till the strike is resolved. Other unions followed with donations of their own.

This week also brought news out of Louisiana of the death of another nurse, apparently the result of an attack by a patient. The loss of a sister to workplace violence is both tragic and too common.
I ask for your help in this.
Please contact your congressperson and senators.
Ask them to cosponsor HR 1309 and SB 851, companion bills that would create OSHA protections for Healthcare and Social Workers against Workplace Violence.

Easter and Passover are a time of reflection and as I reflected on this week, I thought of a speech delivered by Randi Weingarten at the National Press Club on Thursday.
One of the things Randi spoke about was the de-professionalization of Teaching.
As I come to know teachers better and better, I realize that their struggles are both different but the same as the struggles of nurses and healthcare professionals.
They are also the struggles of our PSRPs and public servants.
I think they are related to the struggles of our UFCW workers too.

Basic benefits and a voice in the workplace are stripped away.
Healthcare workers are subject to violence and understaffing.
Educators forced to teach to the test, underfunded, and facing violence in the classroom.
Public servants vilified as the “cause” of financial woes, when indeed, they are part of the solution.
Meat cutters and cashiers struggle to make a living wage.
While foreign owners, healthcare corporations, and private investors reap the profits of our toils.

Our UFCW sisters and brothers remind us, as the teachers of Los Angeles, Chicago, and many states recently have.
While we may not control the businesses…..

We control the means of production

Standing together gives a a Voice

Another Saturday, another regional legislative lunch, this one in Redding, CT.
Jan asked me if I wanted to sit this one out, because it’s a two hour drive from my house. I appreciated the offer but I knew that members from SVFT and the Danbury Nurses would be there and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to spend some time with them.
Day in and day out, whether in the classroom or the hospital, they work hard for the people of Connecticut and their union sisters and brothers.
That’s why I wanted to be there.

Earlier in the week I had the opportunity to visit my alma mater, Three Rivers Community College, to be part of a panel discussion with the soon to graduate nursing class.
The invitation came through an old friend and colleague, Cindy Arpin, who is an AFT member and instructor at the college.
There were 7 of us on the panel, from recently graduated in December, to me (not so recently graduated.)
Our mission…..to tell the soon to graduate of our experiences as nurses.
I have to say, it was a big honor for me.
Five of the panelist were union nurses, and four of them, AFT members.
Including Cindy and I, AFT members included Jillian Bellman form Windham, Erika Borgnine from Backus, and Alex Timinskas from the Visiting Nurses of SE CT.

What do you tell soon to graduate nurses?
I told them what nursing has meant to me.
It’s not a job, it’s a life choice.

I told them that there will be good days and bad days but that they could not be better prepared having graduated from Three Rivers.
I also told them to never forget the most important lesson……

The most important role of a nurse is to be an advocate for their patients and their families.

And to do that, they needed to have a voice.
That’s why, when asked what advice we would offer when as they considered employment offers, I said choose a union hospital.

Being in a union means a nurse can have a voice and can advocate, without fear of retaliation.

Member Activists are our heart and soul

Sometimes the work of the VP of a state federation involves arranging repairs on the building, authorizing expenditures, signing checks, doing prep work or follow up work for meetings. It’s all important work and without it, even the greatest ideas in the world would remain that, great ideas.

But what I really like is being with activists.

This week I attended the delegate meeting of the Backus Nurses, my home local. It was very satisfying to see the degree of activism in the group. What started as a “hope” 7 years ago has become an organization of nurses who own their voice…..and have learned how to use it.
I applaud every one of them and I am extremely grateful for the presidents who followed me, Michelle and Sherri. Each has imprinted their strength and personality on the local.

Jan, Ed and I spent Friday with our sisters and brothers of AFSCME Council 4. Thank you Jody for the invitation. We are close to many of the other Connecticut Unions, perhaps none more than Council 4. Their members, like our members, do the work that keeps this state running, and helps people in need.

The week finished on Saturday with regional legislative breakfast in Niantic and lunch in Coventry.
If you’ve never attended, you should.
Members who attended get to sit with coworkers and talk with their local state senators and representatives. Members who come once usually return.  It’s good for the legislators to hear the stories behind the concerns of our members and to see our faces.
In makes a difference.
For leadership, it’s also a chance to listen to our members. It keeps us grounded.
Melanie and Glenn from our  Manchester Hospital Healthcare Local attended in Coventry. It was their first time. Melanie  asked me if the legislators really listed.
I believe they do. Even the ones who vote against us sometimes, I think they listen. I have also seen them modify their positions and/or come to understand our issues better after listening and looking into the eyes of our members.
It was great to spend some time relaxing afterward with Melanie, Glenn and the other members who stuck around for a while.

Just as I am proud of where my home local has come in 7 years, I am equally proud of where our state fed and the labor movement is heading.
In spite off the efforts of those who don’t believe workers should have a voice, more and more members are becoming engaged.
Our convention committee for our May AFT Connecticut Convention understood this when they selected the convention theme.
Still Here and Still Growing.

Teachers with guns....and the rest of the week at AFT CT

Senators Murphy and Blumenthal and Representative Hayes came to New Britain High this week. Jan, Teacher President Sal Escobales and I were happy to join them, other educators, and students for a discussion on the plan by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to divert funds from the education budget to arm teachers in the classroom with guns.
There was universal agreement that this was a bad idea.
Our schools struggle for funds for critically  needed supplies like books and enough educators, nurses, and social workers. The idea of diverting such funds to arm teachers is ludicrous.
I remember such an idea being proposed for nurses after a shooting in a hospital.
I’m a nurse.
You don’t want me armed, that’s for sure. I’d probably accidentally shoot myself in the foot.

In a light moment, one of the students remarked that they have police in their building, but they wouldn’t want them to substitute teach. Everyone turned to the police in the room, who were all nodding in agreement.
On a somewhat related note, Sal is working on a program to help fellow Veterans, who wish to become teachers, to have a pathway to accomplish this.
BTW, they don’t think teachers should be armed either.

While there, we took the opportunity to speak to Senator Murphy about Co-sponsoring a bill on Workplace Violence protection for healthcare and social workers, something Congressman Courtney has worked on for several years and introduced in the House and Senator Baldwin in the Senate. Senator Murphy has promised to review the bill.

Congratulations to our Assistant Attorney General Local. After two years of work on organizing and their first contract, it passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate and now goes to the Governor.
Well done and well deserved.

The first AFT Connecticut Podcast (AFT in Action)  was completed this week with Jan hosting Jody Barr from AFSCME and Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz. It can be accessed through the AFT Connecticut Facebook page.

It was a week for AFT visitors from Washington. Jennifer Diagostino was in to help with AFT Connect (Database) training with staff and members, Mark Bostic was in to discuss associate membership programs, and Kyle Arnone and Sara Markle were in for our Healthcare Professional Issues Day on Saturday. Thank you all for the work you do.

Speaking of the Healthcare Professional Issues Day, thank you also to Jenn Benevento, Lisa D’Abrosca and everyone who worked to make this a success and thank you to the members and staff who gave up a Saturday to attend.

We took a week off from our regional legislative breakfasts but will return next Saturday with two, one in Niantic at 8:30 and one in Coventry at 12:00.
Hope to see you there to meet your legislators.

Legislative Breakfasts (and other things)

This past week strarted and ended with legislative breakfasts.
Teri and Jim do a great job (assisted by many others) in providing these opportunities for our members and our legislators to get together, usually on a Saturday, for food and conversation.
It’s an opportunity for legislators to hear directly from our members who live in their districts on the issues that are most important to them. It’s a great way for our members to be involved.
We call it speed dating for legislators.
Members gather around a table with breakfast (or lunch) and legislators spend 15 or so minutes talking to them befor Teri yells time and they move to the next table.
A week ago were in Southington for breakfast and East Hartford for lunch.
Yesterday it was breakfast in Branford.
It you haven’t attended, please come check it out.
Info is on our AFT Connecticut web page. http://aftct.org/

Monday I testified befor the Judiciary Committee on Captive Audience meetings, something I experienced in the Backus campaign.
Something that should be illegal.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we traveled to Massachusetts with our field reps to have a tri-state conference (with AFT RI and AFT Massachusetts.)
It was an opportunity for our professional field staff to gather and learn with and from field staff from the other state federations.
Our field reps work hard for our members and though they spend a lot of time preparing for, negotiating, and defending contracts, it would be a mistake to think they view their role as limited to this.
They correctly view their role as organizers, whose primary role is to engage local leaders and members and build worker power.
This message was articulated at the conference by an organizer from the LA Teachers who spoke about the 2 year preparation that let to a successful recent strike.

It was good to have Ed back in state this week.
The week before, he, Ally, and Jessica were in Montana on a week long public employee blitz, helping our affiliate out there.
And in case you missed it, Jan was away for an overnight that week too.
She spoke at the United Nations on women’s issues in healthcare, both as providers of that care and receivers of that care.

There is no legislative breakfast next Saturday but we will be gathering healthcare workers in Rocky Hill (Saturday, March 30) for a healthcare Professional Development Day covering topics like legal issues for healthcare workers, Fatigue, and Hospital Financial Reporting.
RN CEUs offered. More info on the website.
All are welcome.

Our next legislative breakfast will be on April 6 in Niantic and Coventry.
Thanks for all you do.









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