New Haven Independent

In August 2003, Rogan and eight other graying former Yale employees filed into the office of Yale Chief Investment Officer David Swensen, requesting an interview to discuss what they called “poverty-level” pensions. It was in the midst of a strike by Yale workers. The request became an all-night stakeout, complete with donuts and sleeping bags brought by Jesse Jackson. A crowd cheered outside, and the nation looked on.

Tuesday, a conference room at St. Anthony’s Church filled with the chants and images of that day in an honorary dinner for the nine retirees, hosted by Locals 34 and 35, Yale’s pink- and blue-collar unions.

“Oh, it was a trip!” recalled Rogan, standing at the podium before a room packed with labor support.

“I was raised a very good girl, to do what you’re told,” she said. “I was nervous and scared, because we’re afraid of the unknown.” She gained strength that day by looking outside, where a crowd gathered, and where Rev. Jackson led chants from the steps.

“Knowing you were there just really made a difference. … You can’t do it alone!” she told the crowd. Today, she remains a firebrand union supporter. Right now blue-collar workers at Yale-New Haven Hospital have a union-organizing drive underway.

As she was being wheeled through the hallways of Yale New-Haven Monday night on her way to diagnostic radiation, “I started right then and there. ‘I hope you’re going to sign a card!’” she told the employees.

(Union reps in that fight — to organize 1,800 blue-collar hospital workers at Yale New-Haven — reported Tuesday they will indeed vote by Christmas. The organizing election is set for Dec. 20 and 21.)

Unions deemed the over-24 hour stakeout in 2003 a “breakthrough”. It brought Swensen to the table, and, after a three-week strike, Yale workers got an eight-year contract with dramatic pension gains.

“We consider them to be real heroes,” said John Wilhelm, a Yale alum and president/Hospitality Industry of UNITE HERE.

“Without the action that they took of walking into the Yale investment office, and drawing local and national attention, we would not have made the gains we made,” said a grateful Laura Smith, president of Local 34.

“Your strength, dedication, and commitment is an inspiration to us all,” read a statement from Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro’s office, delivered by an aide in her absence. Mayor John DeStefano, Jr., and Hill Alderman Jorge Perez both showed up in support.

Local punk/rockabilly/Irish music legend Billy Collins strummed a guitar and sang, “Too Poor to Retire,” which he wrote in solidarity with Yale retirees. Click on the play arrow above to watch him play it.

The Pension Campaign

“It’s just a bit of sad irony that they themselves were not able to benefit,” said Smith of Rogan and the fiesty retirees, whose pensions were not raised on account of the victory. The contract affected only current employees.

Yale’s approximately 1,200 retirees have since gained two incremental pension raises, but union reps say it’s far from enough. Pensions for pre-2002 retirees average $548 a month, “a poverty wage by any measure,” according to the union.

Smith said the retirees have proposed a package to boost pensions for people like Rogan to be more on par with the pensions gained through the sit-in. The total proposal would cost Yale about $27 million over 12 years, said Smith. In context — compared to Yale’s $18 billion endowment — the cost isn’t great, she argued.

Yale spokesman Tom Conroy declined to comment for this story.

Since 2001, 30 retirees have died without enjoying pension adjustments, said Smith.

Lucille Dickess, one of the founders of Local 34 and a member of the sit-in, could not attend Tuesday’s dinner because she was in the hospital.

“It reminds us again, this struggle we’re engaged with for this group of people can’t wait,” said Wilhelm. He said he’s hoping broad support, including from GESO and women on campus, will fall behind the largely female retirees. “We will not measure up as a union until we have fixed this problem.”

“We are with you for as long as it takes,” said Melissa Mason, chair of GESO. Mason said she was inspired by the retirees when she got arrested alongside them during the strike of 2003.

Bob Proto, president of Local 35, vowed “to hold Yale’s feet to the fire.”