Posts tagged Ned Lamont
From Closed Doors to Door to Door: How Connecticut Labor Turns Endorsements into Political Power
July 20, 2026 // There is nothing improper about union members participating in elections. Workers do not surrender their political rights by joining a union, and labor organizations have every right to campaign for candidates and policies they support. But the scale of that operation deserves public attention, particularly when participating affiliates represent government employees whose compensation and working conditions are shaped by the officials those unions are helping elect. That is a long-standing feature of public-sector politics, not evidence that any candidate traded a policy commitment for an endorsement. It does, however, explain why labor’s support is worth substantially more than favorable words in a press release: the same organizations that advocate for higher wages, richer benefits and broader bargaining power can also help determine which officials will make decisions on those issues. That does not make the political activity illegitimate. It makes the power behind it worth understanding.
Why Connecticut unions are still endorsing Gov. Lamont despite public clashes
July 6, 2026 // Lamont is also campaigning on a record that includes signing worker-friendly laws establishing automatic increases to the state's minimum wage, expanding paid sick leave and providing workers up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, extending collective bargaining rights for public employees, banning captive audience meetings by employers, and strengthening labor protections for warehouse workers. Elliott voted for all those laws as a state legislator.
Connecticut: Lamont’s Golden Age; Commentary
March 19, 2026 // A few days ago, CT Mirror reported that “The administration recently reached tentative, four-year agreements with 10 [union bargaining] units that collectively represent nearly 20,000 state employees [almost half the workforce].” Lamont released only wage increase information, nothing about reform of COVID-era remote work privileges. Lamont’s spokesman said “Because these negotiations are still underway, we are unable to provide additional comment.” Lamont wants union members to know he aims to give them four more years of robust 4.5% annual pay raises comprised of a 2.5% general wage increase (GWI) plus a 2.0% “step increase,” a deal identical to the one he gave them four years ago, which followed two years of 5.5% increases. These ten increases compound to about 60%.
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.