Labor

Probe Reveals Marriage-License Misconduct

by | Mar 8, 2024 4:42 pm | Comments (50)

Thomas Breen Photo

Patricia Clark in her office before retiring: “Yelled” at applicants when “she did not believe them.”

Happy Hunting!” wrote New Haven’s vital statistics chief Patricia Clark to a federal investigator as she reported yet another immigrant getting married in City Hall.

The city released a 41-page investigatory report on Friday finding that Clark committed misconduct by reporting 93 marriage-seeking couples to federal immigration authorities and denying services to constituents arbitrarily.

Meanwhile, officials announced that Clark evaded disciplinary action by retiring in late February, the day she faced a hearing.

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Protest Targets Migrant Worker Eviction

by | Feb 23, 2024 9:43 am | Comments (6)

Laura Glesby Photo

Edgar Becerra protests with ULA outside MDF Painting and Power Washing.

We have human rights,” Edgar Becerra called into a bullhorn, speaking in Spanish. We have a heart.”

He was surrounded by over 25 immigrant rights activists outside the Branford headquarters of his Fair Haven landlord and former employer — who brought him to the U.S. as a temporary worker, allegedly fired him for work-related injuries, and is now trying to evict him a second time.

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ConnCAT Sends 23 Adults Back Into Workforce

by | Feb 19, 2024 9:00 am | Comments (6)

Yash Roy Photo

Davis-Taylor at Saturday's graduation: Ready for steady work.

Cameron Davis-Taylor is ready to reenter the workforce. This time around, she plans on being a chef. 

She had no professional culinary experience until she joined the ConnCAT Culinary Arts Academy half a year ago. Now she knows she is ready to start a business and begin working. 

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Driver Gives Rideshare Rights A Lyft

by | Feb 9, 2024 4:51 pm | Comments (2)

Jesenia Rodriguez en route to Capitol: Putting in policy miles to protect future rideshare workers.

It’s been a journey getting here,” Uber driver Jesenia Rodriguez said as she parked her boyfriend’s stoplight red Toyota across from the state Capitol building.

She was running late. First she had to drop her grandkids off at Jepson School. Then she missed three exits on her way into Hartford while fielding phone calls from fellow rideshare and delivery drivers.

But now she had arrived, with a message to deliver.

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Post-Pandemic Woes Grind Common Ground

by | Jan 29, 2024 3:17 pm | Comments (34)

Seeking higher ground: former staffer Victor Rios, student Kiana Camacho and friend, and former staffer Nicole Mackin.

Students, staff, and parents at Common Ground High School say the school is going downhill because of high teacher turnover and distrust for administration. The environmental-themed charter school’s board and leaders say they are working to get to the bottom of these concerns. 

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Philosopher Quizzed For Cop-Case Jury

by | Jan 24, 2024 3:06 pm | Comments (7)

Nora Grace-Flood Photo

Seeking justice, Tony Zona readies for jury selection.

A Yale PhD student was asked on the witness stand if he could take a firm and fair stand in a trial of cop against cops.

What is … fair’?” the graduate student responded to attorneys as jury selection kicked off in a case that will test whether top cops can be held accountable for seeking to retaliate against alleged whistleblowers.

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Boss/Landlord Defends Booting Injured Worker

by | Jan 17, 2024 3:03 pm | Comments (24)

Nora Grace-Flood Photo

Mark DeFrancesco: I treated tenants/workers well.

Mark DeFrancesco denied that he offered no beds to the 19 Guatemalan migrants working for him and living in one of his houses.

He denied that he deliberately locked out two of those tenants after they got injured at work. 

And he denied that the eviction he has launched against those two tenants is a way to avoid paying worker’s compensation.

I got them a 60 inch TV!” he testified in housing court. Two of them, in fact, he added at his lawyer’s prompting.

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Landlord-Boss Boots Injured Migrant Worker

by | Jan 12, 2024 2:54 pm | Comments (24)

Edgar Becerra in court: "I just want everyone to know the name of this company and all the injustices they did."

Construction boss-landlord Mark DeFrancesco, right, in court with lawyer Josh Brown.

Edgar Becerra fell off a 30-foot ladder — then landed in court this week fighting to stay in the country against a boss who first fired him then moved to evict him.

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Yale Grad Union Ratifies 1st Contract

by | Dec 16, 2023 8:43 pm | Comments (7)

Thomas Breen photos

Earth and planetary science PhD students Elly Goetz and Alex Ruebenstahl, voting "yes" on Local 33's first contract Friday.

At the 425 College polling place.

(Updated) Yale’s graduate teachers and researchers voted to ratify their first ever union contract with the university by a tally of 1,705 to 10 — making official a new five-year agreement that will see PhD students get at least 15 percent pay bumps and dental insurance, among other provisions.

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How They Dialed In To The Middle Class

by | Dec 13, 2023 12:15 pm | Comments (6)

Jeanne Newman photo

Past and present SNET/Frontier employees, at the 4 Hamilton St. garage. Back row: Charles Nixon, Tommy Joyner, Earl McCoy Sr., Webster Zackery. Front row: James Jones, Rodney Diggs, Edward McClain, Jermaine Allen.

Earl McCoy, Sr. grabbed a rung on the phone company ladder, lifting other Black New Haveners along with him into lives of stable employment at a livable wage.

He and other SNET legends” connected offline to reflect on that journey, and where it’s headed today.

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Lawsuit Seeks To Enforce Residency Requirements

by | Dec 12, 2023 9:06 am | Comments (36)

Clockwise: Dennis Serfilippi, Michael Gormany, Alex Pullen, and Justin Elicker.

A local financial consultant and recent Westville alder candidate is suing the city for keeping non-residents in New Haven’s top financial offices — and is pushing to push out the current controller and tax assessor in the name of improved municipal fiscal management and compliance with the city charter.

Mayor Justin Elicker has responded by pressing the importance of keeping the most qualified people in those jobs amid a shortage of applicants, and has denied that the city is violating the charter as his administration seeks to keep those finance roles filled.

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Grad Union Reaches Tentative Contract Agreement With Yale

by | Dec 8, 2023 4:51 pm | Comments (17)

Thomas Breen file photo

At a Local 33 rally on Hillhouse Ave.

Yale’s graduate teacher and researcher union has reached a tentative agreement with the university, which, if approved by a majority of its members, will grant the union its first ever contract — and will see PhD students receive at least 15 percent pay bumps and dental care, among other provisions.

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86,000 Job Matches Await

by | Nov 27, 2023 11:40 am | Comments (2)

Paul Bass Photo

Marcia LaFemina, Yolanda Caldera-Durant, Ann Harrison at WNHH FM.

Some 86,000 jobs are going begging in Connecticut, many of them paying a living wage and not requiring a college degree. Thousands of people without college degrees need those jobs. So put those people in the jobs — simple, right?

Not so simple.

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