News

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. 

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. 

Recently our Jean Castagno (far right), a clinical office assistant in dermatology, was part of a group of union activists who went to Helena, Montana, to work with the newly merged Montana Federation of Public Employees (MFPE). It was part of AFT’s Member Organizing Institute (MOI) program. Here's what she had to say about it: 

UHP President Bill Garrity is among the union leaders who went before the Government Administration and Elections Committee March 25 to speak against SB 878 a bill that would make it easier for the state to enter into public-private partnerships.

Five Special elections were held Feb. 26 to fill three Senate and two House vacancies created when incumbent lawmakers resigned to accept positions in Gov. Lamont's administration. 

"I would ask for your help to make sure you do not carve up part of the state’s flagship university. Do not destroy the only public hospital in the state. We treat many underserved patients, we treat people with conditions that are not profitable."

President Bill Garrity to the UConn Health board of directors March 4, 2019

That's the message from UHP President Bill Garrity to the legislature's Higher Education Committee.