New Haven, CT
Monday, September 14
 |
| Rally: Healthcare and Labor Law Reform are needed right now! |
Convention delegates took UE's long-time demands for universal healthcare and restoration of the right to organize to the streets during a spirited noontime rally on Monday.
The rank-and-file delegates marched to New Haven City Hall a few blocks away, to rally for single-payer healthcare and the Employee Free Choice Act. The march stopped briefly in front of the Chamber of Commerce to express outrage at the business lobby group’s support of union busting and it's opposition to workers’ rights.
At City Hall delegates were joined by local labor and other activists. Speakers included UE Director of Organization Bob Kingsley and UE Local 222/Sub-local 68 president and New Haven city worker Jerome Houser.
State Sen. Toni Harp (D-New Haven) spoke passionately for single-payer as UE members held big signs spelling out the money the city would save under single-payer: $38,206,081.
Annie McDonald, president of the UE sub-local in Wallingford that fought to win health insurance, described her first-hand family experience of being uninsured. "People in Washington have their heads in the sand," said McDonald, "so you know what part of their anatomy they’re thinking with."
Mark Brenner, director of Labor Notes, and Local 243 President Ray Pompano spoke on the urgent need for labor law reform, while UE members released 60 black balloons, representing the 60 workers fired every day in the U.S. for trying to organize unions.
(See further coverage of the rally from the New Haven Independent here.)