March On New Haven City Hall To Protest Budget

Toni Daddio’s husband couldn’t come to Monday’s pro-labor rally downtown, but she made sure he could listen in as she marched for both of them.

For Daddio, a cook at Fair Haven School, and her husband, who’s a custodian at Worthington Hooker School, the fight over the city’s budget is personal.

“What happens to us? I have a home,” Daddio said, cell phone to her ear, as she adjusted the AFSCME sign around her neck. “If I go on welfare, I’d be a burden on the state.”

Daddio (at right in photo) was one of hundreds of labor supporters who gathered Monday at First and Summerfield United Methodist Church, then marched down Elm Street to City Hall to protest Mayor John DeStefano’s proposed cuts to city union benefits. Many wore AFSCME green—the union represents 1,500 city workers—and were either New Haven city employees or family and friends of workers. Others came because they’re members of other unions, such as the contingent of Teamsters from Stamford, or just because they support the cause.

DeStefano wants to close New Haven’s projected long-term budget gaps through increased city worker contributions to pension and health care plans, as well as, this coming year, throughprivatizing school custodial work.

He’s seeking concessions from 11 unions that represent city workers, asking them to give ground on health and retirement benefits. Last month, the city cut 96 positions, including 16 police officers. More layoffs are looming.

In a statement issued Monday night, DeStefano said he “continues to seek modest changes” to labor contracts “that are fair to the worker and more in line with what the taxpayers of New Haven have.”

Daddio argued that if he lays off people like her and her husband, not only will there be more people in the unemployment line, but local schoolkids will lose out.

“He doesn’t just clean the floor—he wipes their noses,” Daddio said of her husband. “I didn’t see not one person in [DeStefano’s] office get laid off, and he wants to lay us off?”

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