In This Together CT

Bernie Vignali, Occupational Safety Consultant

I’ve worked in the Occupational Health and Safety Administration in the Connecticut Department of Labor for 25 years.

As a safety and health consultant I provide on site safety and health services to small businesses in manufacturing, medical facilities, contactors. I cover issues concerning OSHA regulations and how the company provides employees with a safe work environment. Helping companies reduce long term safety and health costs.

Barbara Dempsey, Retired RN on Call Back

I’m a retired RN on Call Back, working for the Department of Developmental Services. I worked for 33 years before retirement, and have worked for 6 more since being called back.

I work with 67 citizens who have mental and physical disabilities needing nursing services along with physical therapy and occupational therapy.

Cutting public services would cut the care citizens need.

And now, with the economy getting worse and worse, the timing couldn’t be worse — more people than ever will be using public services to keep themselves and their families healthy.

“Connecticut’s public higher education, especially its community colleges, are a great value and have incredible benefits for students, employers and the community. We prepare students for jobs, which feed back into the state and community.”

-Lorraine Li

Lorraine Li, Assistant Professor, Gateway Community College

Lorraine Li is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Gateway Community College.

Education is a key component to keeping our state on track during this economic crisis. People don’t stop depending on public services just because the Governor is cutting back. In fact, cutting public services is the worst thing that can be done in this economy.

Cutting public services will lead to a downward economic spiral that will take much longer to recover from if we cannot keep our heads above water. It’s time for Governor Rell and the state legislature to throw people a life preserver, not an anchor.

“Supporting public services is essential because these services help everyone. In my particular job as a probation officer if cuts are made, it affects community protection. Less employees equals less community supervision of offenders which leads to more crime and victimization of the community.”

-Thomas O’Neill

Tom O'Neill, Probation Officer, Hartford Adult Probation

Thomas O’Neill is a probation officer working
in Hartford Adult Probation.

He supervises individuals sentenced by the court to probation. Thomas monitors their criminal activity, therapy, counseling, community service and employment. Community protection is a vital part of his job.

Public safety is a core service provided by Connecticut’s public employees. Let’s work to insure it continues.

“I appreciate the Governor being so concerned about the welfare of the people of our state and I hope that translates to taking care of all our state’s citizens. But how do we take care of our citizens if government is cutting the services they depend on us to provide?”

-Susan McKinley

Susan McKinley, Social Worker, Connecticut Valley Hospital

Susan McKinley is a social worker in the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, working at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown.

Everyone agrees we have an obligation to provide proper care for our state’s most vulnerable populations — young children, senior citizens, the disabled and the mentally ill. Even when they economy is tough, we can’t ask those groups to fend for themselves.

But if we’re really as committed to our children, to our parents and granparents, and to the disabled as as we say, we shouldn’t allow the programs they depend on to disappear.

They’re too important.

“Many of our students are returning to update their skills or change fields and it’s important for us to have a skilled, trained workforce that’s ready when the economy improves.”

- Michele Ganon

Michele Ganon, Associate Professor, Western CT State University

Michele is an Associate Professor at Western Connecticut State University where she teaches classes in accounting, taxes and finance. She has taught there for seventeen years.

A strong higher education system is even more crucial during hard times like these — and not just for kids right out of high school. People who lose their jobs can often go back to school and learn new skills so that when the economy picks up again, they can get back on their feet.

If we want our state to have the kind of highly skilled, flexible workforce, and to be the kind of place where employers know they can find the right kind of employees, we need to protect and support higher education.

Stephen Anderson, Air Pollution Control Engineer

“Governor Rell recently provided testimony to Congress on the nation’s economic downturn.  Reading her comments, I can’t help but worry about where her allegiance lies, who she will protect, and who will be thrown under the bus.

It’s clear her allegiance lies with big business and the same Wall Street cronies that got us into this mess. It doesn’t take more than about a hundred words before the Governor tells us what she sees as the real crisis, that “Wall Street bonuses and bonuses for top executives…will be dropping dramatically.”

She goes on to talk about how much Connecticut “depends” on income tax revenues from financial sector employees. Where was the Governor when a progressive solution such as the “millionaire tax” was proposed?  Wouldn’t that have been a good way to stave off the crisis we are in today? (more…)

Marsha Tulloch talks to reporters about the challenges she and her Department of Labor co-workers face trying to help thousands of jobless Connecticut residents stay afloat in perilous times. Congressman Chris Murphy toured the Hartford unemployment call center to talk to front-line workers like Tulloch. (more…)