More than 300 members of the Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges union, or the 4Cs, traveled to the Legislative Office Building in Hartford March 12 to join other state employees to demand the governor and legislators support state workers and higher education in the final weeks of the legislative session.

The message was clear: Connecticut’s public workers have waited long enough for fair contracts. About 550 union members filled the lobby of the building, flowing to the second and third floor balconies.

Alice Simmel, a Guided Pathways Advisor at CT State Naugatuck Valley, was one of 5 speakers at the event and made the connection between employee contracts and student services clear:

“If Connecticut says it believes in public higher education, then it must fund public colleges like they matter and treat the workers who make them run like they matter too,” she said.

The picket at the legislative office follows actions the 4Cs have been taking through the 2025-26 school year to bring attention to inadequate funding of the public higher education system in Connecticut, including the 12 community colleges, four state colleges and Charter Oak, an online college. In November, an informational picket was held at CT State Manchester to support a week of action across the state.