Posts tagged Ned Lamont
Connecticut highway service plaza workers vote to join union
December 17, 2025 // Workers at services plazas on Connecticut highways have voted to unionize, a month after state officials brokered an agreement requiring the plaza owner to stay neutral in the campaign, officials said.
3 CT state employee unions to get pay hikes worth 4.5%
December 4, 2025 // The raises, ordered for judicial marshals, their supervisors and a third group that includes probation officers, information technology analysts, assistant clerks, counselors and other support staff, are retroactive to July 1, when the fiscal year began. The award announced Wednesday also increases the likelihood that dozens of additional bargaining units in state government — which haven’t yet settled compensation deals — will get similar raises. And if that happens, it will mark the fifth consecutive year state employees’ compensation has increased by about 4.5%. (A step hike typically adds about 2 percentage points to the overall raise value.)
Operator To Pay CT Highway Service Plaza Workers $1.5M, Allow Unionization, Lamont Says
November 18, 2025 // In addition, through an agreement facilitated by the Office of Attorney General William Tong and the Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL), Project Service, the operator of the service plazas, has agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve allegations that its food service subcontractors underpaid workers in violation of standard wage laws. The settlement requires that Project Service certify food service subcontractor operators pay standard wages going forward.
Editorial: Unions share blame for layoff fallout
November 1, 2025 // "To date, the Stamford law firm of Silver Golub & Teitell has been paid $50.8 million for representing the unions and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, according to the state comptroller's office," Mr. Hughes wrote. "The settlement set attorney fees at 17.5% of the total damages each class member receives," extrapolating "to roughly $290 million in compensatory and economic damages." Union attorney Jonathan M. Levine figured the actual payouts amounted to between $190 million and $215 million.
85% of Americans Want Union Transparency. Connecticut’s Labor Dept Says No
October 5, 2025 // Connecticut tried to close that gap. The state enacted Conn. Gen. Stat. §31-77, requiring any union with more than 25 members to file verified annual financial reports with the CTDOL. The statute’s intent is straightforward: protect workers from abuse, make sure dues were spent responsibly, and give members the right to demand audits. Yet the safeguard has little force today. In an Aug. 8 letter to state Senators Stephen Harding (R-Brookfield) and Rob Sampson (R-Wolcott), Labor Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo described §31-77 statute as “redundant” and “burdensome” — and announced the department’s decision not to enforce it. That choice effectively renders the law optional.
Union Leadership Blasts State Plan to Invest Pension Fund in Connecticut Sun
September 22, 2025 // Earlier this month, Gov. Lamont floated the idea of using the state’s pension fund to invest in the Sun to keep it in the state. That build on reporting last month that the state was considering a plan to help keep the WNBA franchise in the state, despite offers from at least two NBA owners and the WNBA itself.
Connecticut Union Raises. Incompetence or Worse?
August 25, 2025 // By telegraphing guaranteed raises, Lamont places unions on offense, emboldened to demand wage and benefit enhancements, rather than defending existing gains. As negotiation expert Chester Karrass once said, “You don’t get what you deserve; you get what you negotiate.” Revealing your playbook isn’t negotiation — it’s surrender. State unions, representing 45,000 employees, already secured a staggering 33% in raises and step increases under the 2017 SEBAC agreement, far outpacing the wage growth of the private-sector workers whose taxes pay their salaries. These contracts, negotiated in the name of taxpayers, are meant to balance fairness to employees with fiscal responsibility. Yet, taxpayers are left out, footing the bill for what resembles a feast.
Commentary: Blatant Lawlessness
August 7, 2025 // A new Yankee Institute report, Blatant Lawlessness: How the CT Department of Labor & Union Leaders Disrespect Union Workers and Ignore the Law, highlights the Connecticut Department of Labor’s (CT DOL’s) failure to enforce vital state laws. These laws require unions to provide financial transparency to their members, and the state’s non-enforcement leaves dues-paying workers vulnerable to potential mismanagement and corruption. Enacted in 1959, Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 31-77 mandates that unions representing public and private sector employees submit verified annual financial reports to the CT DOL and make them available to members.
Screaming For Subsidies: Unions Throw Public Tantrum Outside Governor’s Mansion
June 18, 2025 // Yet the day’s events turned hostile when union protesters vandalized a mobile billboard truck commissioned by Yankee Institute. The vehicle displayed messages urging Gov. Lamont to veto S.B. 8.
CT Union Threatens Lamont Over Striking Worker Bill
June 4, 2025 // S.B. 8, which passed the Senate 24–11 on May 28 with Sen. Norm Needleman (D-Essex) abstaining, rewrites Section 31-236 of state law to allow striking workers to collect unemployment benefits after 14 days on the picket line — even if they volunteered to strike. Gov. Lamont vetoed a similar bill last year, and for good reason. This year, he’s again signaling opposition — but unions aren’t taking “no” for an answer.