For immediate release: May 31, 2023
Contact: Carisa Cunningham (617) 447-6500
(Hartford, CT) Equality Connecticut today issued a statement in solidarity with SEIU District 1199 Long Term and Group Home workers, who are on strike for fair pay, affordable healthcare, and retirement with dignity. The strikers seek a state allocation of $200 million, matched by $200 million in federal Medicaid dollars.
These funds would support 1700 workers, most of whom are people of color and women, who care for some of Connecticut’s most vulnerable citizens. Since the workers went out on strike on May 24th, the State of Connecticut has spent $10.5 million dollars to pay replacement workers at 213 group homes across the state.
Equality Connecticut is a member of Recovery For All, a statewide coalition uniting more than 70 community, faith, labor, and nonprofit advocacy organizations across Connecticut, united around a long-term mission to eliminate the state’s extreme racial, economic, and gender inequities by calling on state lawmakers to invest in an Equity Agenda.
“We applaud these workers and their union for using their fight to bolster efforts by Recovery for All for a moral budget that invests in our communities by enacting the Equity Agenda,” said Matt Blinstrubas, Equality Connecticut’s Executive Director. “The Equity Agenda is a framework for reducing Connecticut’s income inequality gap — one of the highest in the nation. We must invest in the majority of people who struggle to survive and live with dignity while the wealthy prosper, the State enjoys a multi-billion-dollar surplus, and the State’s Rainy Day Fund overflows.”
To join the 1199 strikers, you can join the picket line or contribute to the strike fund.
Join the Picket Lines: 6am – 11am, 10am-2pm, and 1pm-6pm
Andover: 23 Route 6
Dayville: 60A Hartford Pike
Hartford: 210 Capitol Ave
Norwich: 554 West Thames Street
Donate to the workers’ strike fund here https://www.seiu1199ne.org/connecticut/
Equality Connecticut, a statewide LGBTQIA+ organization, aspires to advance the rights, health, history, and culture of the LGBTQIA+ community in Connecticut. We come to this work as a queer-led grassroots organization rooted in social justice values. We carry out this work by advocating for progressive change, celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community in the state, and supporting the state’s LGBTQIA+ organizational community.
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