As the past president of CSEA SEIU 2001, and someone who has held three elected offices in Connecticut unions, nothing is more important to me than Connecticut’s workers.
At a time when Donald Trump is giving working people the middle finger — signing executive orders that strip collective bargaining rights, appointing anti-labor judges, backing so-called “right-to-work” laws, and attacking prevailing wage and union jobs — there is nothing more important than electing lawmakers who not only understand our importance, but who actually fight for us.
That’s why the labor movement is uniting around Congressman John Larson for Connecticut’s First District.
So far, more than a dozen unions — representing nearly 40,000 workers across Connecticut — have announced their support for Congressman Larson. Endorsements from public-sector workers, machinists, health care employees, and building trades, and others.
This is because Congressman Larson’s record speaks for itself and is rooted in his upbringing.
Growing up in public housing in East Hartford as one of eight children under one roof, the son of a firefighter at Pratt & Whitney, Larson learned what it means to work hard and fight for dignity on the job. He learned the importance of unions and organized labor from his godfather who was in the telephone workers union. Those roots, from right here in our community, shaped his commitment to working families.
John Larson has stood on the picket line with IAM machinists fighting for fair contracts. He stood with UAW workers demanding the pay, sick leave, and job security they earned. Just a couple months ago, he joined Starbucks workers on the picket line and called out corporate
union-busting tactics
He’s also protected and prioritized our jobs. He saved more than 15,000 union jobs at Pratt & Whitney and thousands more jobs across the state in his relentless fight to ensure the F135 engine is built in Connecticut. He wrote strong labor standards into the Inflation Reduction Act to create more union jobs. He has consistently championed project labor agreements and supported legislation that puts Ironworkers, LIUNA, NASHTU, and other trades to work.
And he delivers. Larson has brought back over $4 billion to this district, funding projects that mean real jobs and real paychecks. He has fought to lower health care, housing, and energy costs — and he’s pushing to do even more.
While Congressman Larson has spent decades fighting for workers and delivering for Connecticut, Luke Bronin has an anti-labor record that working families can’t afford to ignore.
After working as a corporate lawyer for a massive insurance company, Bronin’s first budget as Hartford mayor targeted city workers. He cut benefits and support for first responders, froze wages, pushed workers onto more expensive health plans, reduced sick-leave benefits, and made it more difficult for frontline workers to retire.
During his budget crisis in Hartford, Bronin attempted an egregious power grab to strip unions of collective bargaining rights and consolidate power. The president of the Hartford Police Union called it “union busting” and the president of the Hartford Firefighters Association said Bronin refused to negotiate with employees in a “productive or meaningful manner.”
As a member of CSEA representing city workers in Hartford, we experienced the same thing when he tried to cut collective bargaining protections and health care benefits for our members.
Yes, Hartford saw development during Bronin’s tenure — but much of that progress was fueled by federal dollars secured by Congressman John Larson. Larson fought tirelessly to bring that money home to Connecticut with one goal: create good-paying jobs for local workers and strengthen our communities.
Bronin inherited that opportunity and chose developers over workers, favoring out-of-state developers instead of Connecticut businesses and workers. He didn’t prioritize union workers and Project Labor Agreements, which would have delivered strong wages, benefits, and local job opportunities for workers in his town.
The funding was meant to uplift Hartford’s working families, but instead, it boosted the profits of outside interests.
Failing to fully put people to work in one of Connecticut’s largest cities, with the level of federal and state support he received, is incompetence at worst and dangerous negligence at best.
That’s not a friend to working families. And that’s why labor doesn’t support him and one of the reasons he ended his campaign for governor. While Larson is on the picket line, Luke Bronin is insulated by developer allies and a Greenwich lifestyle that’s disconnected from the realities we face every day.
Congressman Larson isn’t just fighting for our jobs, our infrastructure, our health care, and our retirement security, but he shows up. He hosts town halls and meetings with us. And he isn’t afraid to stand shoulder to shoulder with us in the streets when working families are under attack.
He recently rallied with community members protesting ICE, and even went to an ICE detention center to call out their abuses.
Donald Trump knows exactly who John Larson is. That’s why he singled him out — one of just 30 members placed on Trump’s watch list and labeled an “ICE agitator.” That wasn’t random, it was personal, because Trump knows he can’t intimidate John Larson, he can’t silence him, and he can’t stop him from fighting for us.
For John, this isn’t politics. It’s personal.
This community is his family. Working people are his people. And he has always had our backs. That’s exactly the fighter we need in Congress right now.
Patrice Peterson of West Hartford is a past president of CSEA SEIU 2001.