Labor Leaders Respond to Lamont’s Veto of Critical Pro-Worker Legislation
The Connecticut AFL-CIO, IAM Local 700, UNITE HERE, UFCW Local 371, and SEIU District 1199NE made the following statements in response to Gov. Lamont’s veto of Senate Bill 8, which would have allowed striking workers to access unemployment insurance after two weeks on strike:
Ed Hawthorne, President of the Connecticut AFL-CIO:
Gov. Lamont has once again sided with corporate CEOs over the hardworking people of Connecticut.
This veto 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.
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.
First-term Ned Lamont, who supported paid family and medical leave and increases in the minimum wage, would be ashamed of the actions of second-term Ned. Instead of leading the fight back against the anti-worker policies of the Trump Administration, Gov. Lamont has made it clear we’re on our own.
Shellye Davis, Secretary-Treasurer of the Connecticut AFL-CIO:
As a paraeducator and public service worker who doesn’t have the right to strike, I stand with our private sector workers in expressing our profound disappointment with Gov. Lamont. This legislation would have simply helped level the playing field for private sector workers when their employers force them to strike. Instead of standing with working people, Gov. Lamont has capitulated to the billionaires.
Wayne McCarthy, President of IAM Local 700:
The members of IAM Local 700 are very disappointed with the Governor’s decision to veto SB 8. After coming off of a 23 day strike against Pratt and Whitney, our members know that this legislation is necessary in order to ensure that companies enter into negotiations ready to bargain in good faith. Too often, company’s slow walk negotiations and try to intimidate workers into accepting agreements through fear and economic uncertainty. The last thing that our members want to do is to engage the company in a strike action. If SB 8 was enacted prior to our strike against Pratt and Whitney, there would have been a strong chance that the strike could have been averted all together. Minimally, Pratt and Whitney’s executives would have reached out much earlier to resolve our labor dispute if SB 8 had been signed into law.
Josh Stanley, Secretary-Treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 217:
By vetoing this bill, Governor Lamont has refused to sign a reasonable bill to keep parties at the table. He has instead chosen to leave workers exposed to the attacks of anti-union employers during an anti-union presidential administration. Leaders of the Democratic Party cannot keep making these terrible choices and expect the working class to come back to the party.
Keri Hoehne, Executive Vice President of UFCW Local 371:
When workers are forced out on strike, they do so because they have no other choice. When they fight to maintain their standard of living, they protect the standards for all Connecticut workers in their industry. This was an opportunity for Governor Lamont to protect the middle class in Connecticut, and it is disappointing that he chose to protect the wealth of business owners instead.
Rob Baril, President SEIU 1199NE:
Just a few weeks ago, healthcare workers reached an agreement with the Governor and his staff that averted the largest healthcare strike in Connecticut history. What many don’t know is that this deal came only moments before the state would have been required to cut checks reimbursing nursing home owners for the cost of hiring temporary replacement workers.
Allowing these same employers to be reimbursed for temporary workers while denying caregivers access to unemployment insurance doesn’t just create an unfair advantage—it gives corporations every incentive to drag out a strike. When employers face no financial pressure, they weaponize that imbalance at the bargaining table.
SB 8 restores a measure of balance. It ensures that healthcare workers—who take real risks to stand up for quality care—have the same basic protections as the employers across the table.
If the Governor truly stands with healthcare workers, he cannot block this bill.
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