Kevin M. Lynch

Kevin M. Lynch

Kevin Lynch is a Connecticut activist.

Union family

In May 1998, Austin B. Lynch graduated from Yale University and continued a long family tradition of union involvement.

Austin’s grandparents, Charles Lynch and Catherine Lynch, were Irish immigrants. Charles, even in the face of thundering pulpit admonishments not to, became a founding member of “Red Mike” Quill’s Transport Workers Union. In September, 1949, while inspecting elevated track, Charles fell, breaking his back and all four limbs; he remained in hospitals and rest homes for over six years. To support herself and her three children, Catherine went to work as a seamstress and joined the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU), where she stayed until 1964. So thirty-four years later, given this family tradition, Austin surprised no one when upon his Yale graduation he became an organizer for the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE). But in the interim, the ILGWU had transformed and renamed itself as UNITE, and then combined with HERE to form UNITE-HERE. At that point, Austin, after two generations and one Yale education, was back in the same union of which his grandmother had been a member.

Austin’s older brother, Brendan P. Lynch, went to Harvard Law, graduating the same year as Austin (1998), and has for the past six years been the treasurer of his amalgamated union local of public interest lawyers in Philadelphia.

Their father, Kevin Lynch, learning union activism from his sons, was the founding President of the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans (Ct. ARA), a chapter of the AFL-CIO sponsored Alliance for Retired Americans. During his working life he, like his wife Denise Lynch, was an active member of the faculty union of the Ct. State University System, AAUP.

Union activism

Kevin and his wife Denise Lynch were active members of the faculty union at Connecticut State University (AAUP). Kevin served on the Executive board of the AAUP for several terms. If you are a curious historian, you should know that Kevin is passionate about Irish history, from the study of Irish high crosses to the analysis of Greek manuscripts. Kevin was the founding President of the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans (CTARA). He is active in the Greater New Haven Labor History Association.

2006 Communist May Day celebrations

At the 2006 People’s Weekly World annual May Day celebration, Connecticut AFL-CIO President John Olsen recalled that only two years ago Connecticut Labor Against the War was awarded the Connecticut PWW’s Newsmaker Award. This, he said, contributed to the dialogue that resulted in adoption by the state and national AFL-CIO of strong resolutions against the Iraq war.

Olsen spoke at the May 7 celebration, where he accepted the Newsmaker Award on behalf of the Connecticut AFL-CIO. “It is in rooms like this where things begin to happen,” Olsen said.

Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans President Kevin M. Lynch thanked everyone for their support on last year’s tremendous struggle to beat back the Bush attacks on Social Security. Special recognition was given to Community Organized for Responsible Development for their recent community benefits agreement with the giant Yale New Haven Hospital, and Unidad Latina en Accion for organizing community support for the immigrant rights movement.

The Hartford Young Communist League’s Rap Group had everyone in the room rocking and clapping. The event raised over $2,000 for the People’s Weekly World 2006 fund drive.

This fight for justice has stirred up a powerful coalition of real grassroots organizing, Joelle Fishman, chair of the Connecticut Communist Party USA, told the PWW gathering.

New Haven Peace Council

center Kevin M. Lynch, right Edie Fishman

In 2011, Kevin M. Lynch and Edie Fishman were active members of the Greater New Haven Peace Council. ·