Connecticut AFL-CIO Responds to Lamont’s Veto Threat of UI for Striking Workers Legislation

Ed Hawthorne, President of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, made the following statement in response to Gov. Ned Lamont threatening to veto Senate Bill 8, which would allow striking workers to access unemployment insurance after being on strike for two weeks:

Gov. Lamont has once again sided with corporate CEOs over the hardworking people of Connecticut.

This legislation would provide a safety net for working people who are standing up for fair wages and safe working conditions. Similar laws have been on the books for years in New York and New Jersey and they have not experienced longer or more frequent strikes. In fact, Washington State recently passed a comparable bill, and nine other states provide unemployment insurance to striking workers in some circumstances.

Protecting working people in our state has only become more urgent since the Trump Administration has gutted the NLRB and severely weakened the ability to enforce existing worker protections.

This veto threat sends a clear message: Gov. Lamont is more concerned with protecting corporate profits than supporting the working people who make our economy run.

I’d like to remind Gov. Lamont that Pratt & Whitney, Electric Boat and other large corporations are not his constituents. The thousands of hardworking people who work there are.

We urge the House of Representatives to call it for a vote, and we call on the Governor to reconsider his position and stand with Connecticut’s workers.

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