Three UHP employees recently volunteered in the Virgin Islands, helping provide hearing and vision screenings for more than 10,000 public school children in areas still recovering from the 2017 hurricanes.

The General Assembly adjourned the 2019 legislative session sine die at midnight on Wednesday, June 5th. The so-called "long session" was a very successful one for working families and the Labor movement. After years of austerity budgets and dwindling pro-worker majorities, Labor advocates were able to take advantage of the 2018 election results and pass major legislation including HB 5004 which raises the minimum wage to $15 per hour and SB 1 which enacts a paid family and medical leave insurance program.

HB 6935, legislation giving public sector unions and public sector workers new protections in the wake of last summer's U.S. Supreme Court's Janus v. AFSCME decision, died in the Senate.

Read more in this recap from the Connecticut AFL-CIO. 

The May episode of the AFSCME Council 4 podcast "Council 4 Unplugged" covers the proposed UConn Health public-private partnership. Guests include Chris DeFrancesco, our vice president for communication. 

Take a listen!

Key to Protecting Our Future? Look Beyond Our Bargaining Unit

VP for Communication Chris DeFrancesco (pictured here advocating for UConn Health's patients and employees with Sen. Matt Lesser at the state Capitol) shares what he brings back from the 2019 AFT Collective Bargaining Conference.

Recognizing the Stop and Shop strike as an important moment in the labor movement, many of us became stakeholders and showed our solidarity. For one UHP member it was about even more than that.

Going on strike is a part of the labor movement that most of us as public employees can’t relate to because it’s not a legal option for us. But for Megan McCreesh, it was the only option.