Workers, Faith Leader & Miles Rapoport to Hold Presser to Urge a Pro-Growth, Investment Budget

Three frontline workers will join an American democracy expert and a Waterbury faith leader to hold an “Alternatives to Austerity” budget press conference on Monday, February 11, at 11:00 a.m. in Legislative Office Building Room 1B. Speakers will urge Gov. Lamont and lawmakers that, after years of austerity budgets that have been devastating for Connecticut’s working families, now is the time to invest in vital public services to create an economy that grows and works for everyone.

Workers at the press conference will include Mary Yordon, a teacher in Norwalk; Sotonye Otunba-Payne, a court reporter; and, Kara Phillips, a supervising nurse in the Department of Corrections. Each will briefly discuss their personal stories in the context of the state budget. This will include information on outsourcing and privatization, education funding and retirement security, and understaffing and its resulting effects on mandatory overtime.

Miles Rapoport, a Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy at Harvard, will lay out a vision for a pro-growth, investment economy that stresses how the state can help resolve ongoing budget deficits while addressing pernicious income and wealth inequality, which have been exacerbated by years of austerity budgets. Rapoport is a former Connecticut Secretary of the State and Connecticut State Representative as well as a past President of Common Cause, and Demos.

Sponsoring unions and organizations of the press conference include the Connecticut AFL-CIO, AFSCME Council 4, AFT Connecticut, SEIU CT State Council, SEIU Local 1199NE, CEUI, Connecticut Education Association, D.U.E. Justice coalition, Working Families, and others.

What: Workers, Miles Rapoport & Pastor Rodney Wade to hold press conference to promote a pro-growth, investment budget

When: Monday, Feb. 11 at 11:00 a.m.

Where: Legislative Office Building Room 1B

Who:

• Miles Rapoport, Senior Practice Fellow in American Democracy at Harvard
• Sal Luciano, President of the Connecticut AFL-CIO
• Pastor Rodney Wade, Concerned Black Clergy & Long Hill Bible Church of Waterbury
• Three frontline workers who will tell their personal stories

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