As lawmakers filed into the Capitol for Thursday's special session, they passed a number of people wearing green shirts printed with the letters "AFSCME." The letters stood for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the people said they were standing up for collective bargaining rights for public employees.
Two retired professors from Central Connecticut State University, Denise and Kevin Lynch of West Hartford, were among the green-shirted ones holding sheets of paper that included a statement by former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich against "The Shameful Attack on Public Employees."
Kevin Lynch said he's no economist -- and, instead, had taught medieval literature -- but added that it's his understanding that for every state employee who gets laid off, several people in the private sector lose their jobs. At any rate, he said, the economic ripple effect is wide -- as, for example, the fewer state troopers there are, the fewer uniforms get brought to the local cleaners for laundering.
The Lynches said AFSCME organized the quiet demonstration, or vigil, and they participated even though they had been in another union, the American Association of University Professors.