“Our power is our solidarity. Our power has always been and always will be our ability to organize, to collectively dissent, and to run for office,” CEA President Kate Dias told the crowd gathered at the State Capitol yesterday for a Labor Day rally.
“If we want to take our democracy back, we must rally. We must be vocal about the things that are angering us, the ICE raids and the destabilization of public education by defunding it at every opportunity. We must fight every single time,” Dias continued. “I am proud to stand here with our attorney general, our senator, and our union friends to say, ‘The fight has just begun and we are not afraid.’ The power will come to the people, but we must demand it. Our families deserve better, our children deserve better, strong public education matters, and democracy will not fall on our watch.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said that Dias reached out to him to find out what Connecticut could do when the Trump administration tried to cut billions in dollars for education funding.
“We sued, him and we stopped him, and now those dollars are getting to our schools across Connecticut!” Tong said.
He emphasized that municipal elections are coming up this fall, and that voters will hold those accountable who don’t support programs they hold dear, including Medicaid and Social Security.
Senator Richard Blumenthal told ralliers that he planned to take a photo of the assembled crowd back with him to Washington, D.C.
AFT Connecticut Vice President John Brady, CEA President Kate Dias, and Attorney General William Tong listen to Senator Richard Blumenthal’s remarks at the State Capitol during a Labor Day rally yesterday.
“This is what democracy looks like. This is what America looks like. It isn’t your billionaire buddies. It isn’t your crypto rich people. America is working families. America is people who have the guts and gumption to come out on a Labor Day weekend to Connecticut’s capitol and say ‘We are ready to fight.’”
Dias said that those fighting for change today must remember that they stand on the backs of the people who came before them who sacrificed a great deal and modeled what it means to fight for our rights.
“We stand arm in arm with the teachers of Bridgeport, who in 1978 did the unthinkable and, with the support of the families they served, walked out of their schools and went on strike. Only 36 of the more than 1,200 educators showed up for work. The rest hit the picket line and said ‘No, this is not good enough. It is not good enough for the children. It’s not good enough for our communities, and we won’t stand for it.’ And for that, we are so grateful.”
Twenty percent of striking teachers were imprisoned at Camp Hartell, a National Guard facility in Windsor Locks that was converted into a prison camp during the 19-day strike.
“Those teachers stood strong, and for that we are so grateful, because now we have a Teacher Negotiation Act that allows us to get fair contracts and to fight, because nobody with power or money gives it up without a fight,” Dias said. “And that’s why we’re here today on Labor Day. We’re here to remind the few that hold so much that that doesn’t matter in the face of our unity.”
