In a victory for state labor unions, Gov. Ned Lamont ignored a lobbying effort by business organizations and signed a bill Tuesday prohibiting employers from holding “captive audience” meetings to potentially discourage workers from unionizing.
Lamont signed the bill without fanfare Tuesday, making Connecticut only the second state after Oregon with a captive audience law currently on the books. Beginning July 1, the policy will prevent employers from requiring employees to remain at meetings where they impart political or religious views.
Passage of the bill has long been a priority for Connecticut’s labor unions who say workers attempting to organize often face mandatory meetings in which their employers try to dissuade them from unionizing.
On Wednesday Connecticut AFL-CIO President Ed Hawthorne released a statement calling Connecticut a leader in protecting workers’ rights and commending Lamont for signing the law.
“Far too often, when workers attempt to form a union, management forces workers to attend closed-door captive audience meetings where they frequently threaten business closures, wage cuts, layoffs, and more,” Hawthorne said. “In just over six weeks, workers will no longer be forced to attend meetings about their employer’s position on politics, religion, or union organizing.”
But the bill was marked as both hostile to employers and potentially illegal by the state’s largest business organization, the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. Following...
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