by Julie Martin Banks CTNewsJunkie
HARTFORD, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont on Monday announced a veto of a bill that would have made striking workers eligible for unemployment benefits after they have been on strike for 14 consecutive days, saying he wants to protect jobs in Connecticut.
“I think that some people say, you know, ‘God, you’re too pro labor, you’re too pro business,’” Lamont said. “I think I’m pro jobs and I want to watch out for any bill which I think discourages jobs in this state.”
Lamont said jobs were growing in Connecticut for the first time in years, including the manufacturing sector.
“I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that,” he said. “I was there with the Pratt workers, and their strike was all about job security.”
The bill passed the General Assembly during this past legislative session.
Under current law, workers involved in labor disputes are disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits. But Senate Bill 8, An Act Concerning Protections For Workers and Enhancements to Workers’ Rights, would have lifted that disqualification two weeks into a strike, beginning Dec. 14, 2026.
The passage and subsequent veto followed a well-publicized, three-week strike among Pratt & Whitney unionized machinists which ended after the group ratified a new four-year contract in May.
Lamont said in a press conference Monday morning that he realized the intention of the bill was to level the playing field for union workers who face a hostile administration in Washington, D.C., but that the proposal was a bridge too far.
Lamont referred to his recent trip to the Paris Air Show where he saw some other governors grouped around Pratt officials trying to lure the company away from Connecticut, and saying their states would be a better work environment.
“We have a very constructive, best workforce in the world,” Lamont said. “And I just think the striking workers bill would send the wrong message when it comes to protecting each and every one of those jobs.”
“Legislation backed by Democrats to let striking workers collect unemployment benefits is not only wrongheaded — it’s a troubling reflection of Connecticut’s hostile business climate. The unemployment fund exists because of employer contributions, and tapping it to subsidize strikes is fundamentally unfair,” according to a statement released by House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, and State Rep. Steve Weir, R-Hebron, ranking member of the legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee.
Sen. Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, in his statement, said the bill would have added to an already anti-business climate in the state.
“We already have some of the highest taxes in the country, some of the highest electric rates in the country, some of the most burdensome regulatory climate in the country,” Harding said.
“Connecticut faces a Trump administration rolling back worker protections, a National Labor Relations Board that is in the back pocket of big business, and an unprecedented consolidation of corporate power. Now, more than ever, states must stand up for workers’ rights,” according to a statement released by Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal recently announced that he had joined an effort to introduce a bill, titled The Striking and Locked Out Workers Healthcare Protection Act, that would prevent employers from canceling or altering health insurance for workers who decide to strike.
Proponents of the bill said that employers sometimes threaten to cut workers’ healthcare as a tactic to intimidate workers, so this bill would be a way to subject violators to civil penalties.