The Big Tent

At the end of the day, Jackson led a parade of thousands—that included a band riding on the back of a Teamsters flatbed truck—into downtown New Haven.

The parade clogged Yale’s main arteries—Elm St. and College St.

Jackson then keynoted a rally at Woolsey Hall where he joined with prominent local figures—including New Haven mayor John DeStefano, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., as well as other religious figures and the labor leadership—in denouncing Yale’s labor practices.

Jackson rewarded the thousands who withstood the bitter cold to watch him with a rousing speech.

He admonished Yale for being so stingy with its workers, making multiple references to Yale’s $11 billion endowment.

“This wealth is our wealth,” he said.

Jackson encouraged the strikers to stay strong.

“We will march in the cold ‘till hell freeze over,” he said. “We, the workers, will not go away. For these rights we’ve marched too long, bled too much and died too young.”

DeStefano told the strikers that they had the support of the New Haven community. A multiple-term mayor, he had previously remained neutral in Yale labor strikes.

“This is our fight, this is our city, these are our values and principles,” he said.

DeLauro stressed that the strikers’ right to organize would not be abridged.

“On the principle, no one, but no one, pulls us apart,” she said.

And Local 35’s Proto laid out a “zero tolerance” policy for labor accepting inferior proposals from management.

Later this week, SEIU President Andrew L. Stern, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and former Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West ’74 will address the strikers.