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May 9, 2024

At deadline, CT Senate passes bill benefiting strikers

SHAHRZAD RASEKH / CTMIRROR.ORG Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding cut a deal to block a climate bill and allowed a vote on a strikers benefits bill.
By Mark Pazniokas, CT Mirror

As the clock neared midnight and the end of the General Assembly’s annual session, the Senate gave final passage Wednesday to a Democratic bill written to obscure its goal of providing state aid to striking workers.

Union leaders celebrated by saying what Democrats, with the notable exception of Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney of New Haven, took pains to avoid: The measure is aimed at delivering a union goal of aiding strikers.

“It is good. It is humane. It is something that recognizes that workers who are undertaking a strike because negotiations have failed, often because stonewalling has occurred by employers,” Looney said.

The Senate voted 23-12, with all Republicans opposed and one conservative Democrat, Sen. Joan Hartley of Waterbury, not voting. She exited the chamber prior to the vote and returned at its conclusion. 

Gov. Ned Lamont, who opposed a bill that would have given strikers unemployment benefits, has yet to say if he will sign or veto a compromise that attempts to do much the same thing outside the unemployment system.

The legislation would shift $3 million in unexpended funds held by the state comptroller’s office to a new “Connecticut families and workers account” and direct the comptroller to use it “for the purposes of assisting low-income workers.”

House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, told The Connecticut Mirror after it passed the House on Friday night that the legislation was an attempt to aid strikers in a way advocates hoped might appeal to Lamont.

Passage required cooperation from the Senate Republican minority, as was the case in the House. The bill was called for debate with less than an hour until the constitutional adjournment deadline of midnight, but the GOP declined to mount a filibuster threatened by Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield.

A bit of brinkmanship led to a deal: Looney had broadly hinted in a CT Mirror interview Tuesday night, and more directly in negotiations Wednesday, that he would employ a rarely used maneuver to end debate and call a vote if the GOP talked until midnight on the strikers’ bill and another declaring a climate crisis.

Harding said he agreed not to filibuster on the strikers bill if Looney gave up on the climate legislation and a few other bills.

“We had to make a choice here,” Looney said. “Doing everything was not possible in this narrowing funnel here. But doing that [labor bill] was possible, and I’m glad we got it done. We met earlier today with Sen. Harding and his chief of staff and just talked about the process today and talked about working in good faith.”

Both men wished to avoid calling the question, or ending debate, even if Looney said he was prepared to do so to pass a strikers bill he had long sought to give labor a little more leverage at the bargaining table.

“I think ultimately it was the right decision,” said Harding, who took over leadership of the caucus in mid-session. “There was always that threat of calling the question.”

The Republicans agreed to argue against passage but not try to block a vote by the Democrats, who control the Senate, 24-12.


“Honestly, I wanted them to vote on it,” said Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, who frequently has spoken for hours on bills this year.

Unlike in the House, where Republicans asked no questions about the purpose of the bill during a three-minute debate, their Senate counterparts tried to get Democrats on the record about its origins and purpose.

“Is this in fact … the striking workers bill?” Sampson asked.

“This bill is what it says it is — the creation of a fund in the comptroller’s office to assist low income workers,” replied Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, a retired UAW executive who co-chairs the Labor and Public Employees Committee.

The bill gives complete discretion to Comptroller Sean Scanlan to set standards for the new fund, if it becomes law with Lamont’s signature. The governor is holding a press conference Thursday morning to talk about the session.

Sampson said giving the comptroller discretion over a fund with no statutory standards was unprecedented, at least in his career. He was elected to the General Assembly in 2010.

“I’ve seen some stuff come through this chamber, but I have got to tell you, this is borderline probably the most brazen and absurd piece of legislation that I have seen to date,” Sampson said.

Chris DiPentima, the president of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said the new fund would label the state as hostile to business.

Ed Hawthorne, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, said the power in negotiations rests with management, and the bill was a balancing effort.

“Labor law is heavily weighted in favor of employers. In fact, they have their thumb on the scale during negotiations,” he said. “Corporate CEOs are attempting to maintain their power to starve workers out on strike while hiring replacement workers to do their jobs.”

The bill passed Wednesday night, he said, is “a major step towards leveling the playing field for working people by establishing a fund to aid striking workers.”

Rob Baril, who represents nursing home workers and other caregivers as president of SEIU District 1199NE, called the bill a step in the right direction.

“Caregivers strike as a last resort, and if the state does not protect their right to strike by allowing them to express their grievances without time restrictions or debilitating financial consequences, it grants corporations undue power to prolong negotiations,” he said.

General Dynamics Electric Boat sent a letter to Ritter, House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, and House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, last week saying that either the jobless benefits bill or the new one would upset the “delicate balance” between labor and management.

Peter Baker, who represents about 4,000 EB workers as president of the Metal Trades Council of New London, said the submarine manufacturer had nothing to fear.

“Our recent contract negotiations demonstrate that the collective bargaining process works when all parties act in good faith,” Baker said. “House Bill 5431 will encourage all private sector employers to behave as Electric Boat has done to reach agreement on our new five-year contract.”

The House and Senate moved at a glacial pace until negotiations finally resolved differences among Democrats and Republicans, as well as in the House and Senate. From 10 p.m. until 12, bills passed in a blur.

With one roll call vote shortly before 11 p.m., the Senate gave final approval to a consent calendar with about 40 bills that had passed the House.
 

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