More Demagoguery, this from Junior's former colleagues in Hartford
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CT’s second-dumbest politician stirs from her D.C. nap and comes north to cheer on Pratt & Whitney strikers
CT approves unemployment benefits for strikers; veto expected
CT Insider:
A bill that would add Connecticut to the short list of states providing jobless benefits to strikers won final passage Friday, an organized labor victory muted by Gov. Ned Lamont’s promised veto.
The unusual decision by House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, to allot scarce time for a bill opposed by the governor reflects the influence of organized labor and desires of the House Democratic majority caucus to be recorded on the issue.
…. The legislation, Senate Bill 8, passed on a largely party-line vote of 87 to 59, with 13 Democrats opposed and one Republican, Rep. Tom Delnicki of South Windsor, in favor. The annual legislative session ends Wednesday.
Lamont, a Democrat who has twice been elected with significant labor support, and the House Republican minority said removing the prohibition on strikers from getting unemployment benefits is a distinction Connecticut cannot afford as it tries to improve its economy and shed an anti-business reputation.
…. Connecticut is one of the most highly unionized states in the U.S., but overall membership has faltered since the 1980s, especially among private-sector workers. Only 6.7% of private-sector workers are unionized in the state, compared to 67% of state and municipal employees.
Ed Hawthorne, the president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, said the labor federation still hoped Lamont might reconsider his veto, but the passage by the General Assembly would be significant nonetheless as unions look for ways to show influence in a difficult time for labor.
…. New York and New Jersey are the only states currently offering jobless benefits to strikers, each after two weeks out of work, as the Connecticut bill would offer. Washington state recently adopted a similar law, effective next year.
Connecticut has been early in other labor advances that took root elsewhere, notably the nation’s first mandate on private employers to offer sick days or other paid time off, a paid family and medical leave program, and an hourly minimum wage exceeding $16.
Labor advocates say the strikers’ benefits bill is a necessary counter to the advantages most employers have at the bargaining table, especially since the Trump administration has left the National Labor Relations Board with insufficient members to act and shrunk the ranks of labor mediators.
“This really is a fight against the Donald Trump administration,” Hawthorne said. “It’s more important than ever, because we don’t have a backstop right now. You saw it in the Pratt & Whitney strike.”
The International Association of Machinists recently ended a 23-day strike at the jet-engine manufacturer. The union says if Connecticut had strikers’ benefits, the settlement would have come sooner.
“The just-completed Pratt strike underscores this,” wrote Peter Holland, the vice president for state and local government relations. “It’s reasonable to assume employees would have withheld their labor much longer, holding out for a more valuable offer from Pratt.”
House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, said the House debate Friday was a dangerous, if confusing, political gesture by Democrats.
“Obviously we scratch our heads over spending a day on a striking workers bill that we know the governor wants to veto,” Candelora said. “We think it certainly sends the wrong message to our business community. Even the fact that we’re taking that bill up is really dangerous.”
Candelora noted that Pratt has manufacturing plants outside of Connecticut.
“I think that bill goes well beyond politics,” he said. “I am really concerned the same way the governor is concerned of the message that it sends to our business community and the impact it could actually have.”
Everything the Hartford Yahoos have been up to recently sends the identical message, and to a broader audience than just the business community: get out of Dodge while you still can.