Strikers Filing For Unemployment

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Should union workers receive unemployment while they're out on strike?

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Senate Bill eight says yes, and it passed the state legislature,
but Governor Lamont is against it. Newsad has more from
the Governor's mansion, Bob Wilson. Were hundreds of union workers rallied.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
I when do we want it? I fad, when did
we want it?

Speaker 1 (00:21):
They came out big, and they came out loud. Their
message to Governor Lamont. A strike is a form of
unemployment past Senate Bill eight right.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
Now, strike is always the last resort. No one takes
it lightly, and the employers force people out. There's always
something completely unacceptable that forces them out the door.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Senate Bill eight would allow striking workers to apply for
unemployment benefits after two weeks of being off the job.
Union official Sakey will bring management to the bargaining table sooner,
and it would have made a big difference in the
recent Witney strike.

Speaker 4 (00:50):
If the employer had a clock that was two weeks
that said you were going to have to pay these
folks on employment compensation, they would be begging them from
day one to sit down and they could hammer it
out in a day without the suffering that all those workers.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Incurring Senate Bill number eight passed the Senate and House
pretty much along party lines, and many union members leaned
in on the conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
A lot of folks from my local lodge gave testimony
to that, and they pushed it over the Fitish line.
Now it's up to the governor to sign the bill,
and he's saying he's not going to do it. That's
what he's saying, but wait here to maybe enlighten him
to why it's appointed to workers.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
The Governor's office released the statement saying, quote, the Governor
has consistently expressed concerns about this legislation after vetoing a
version of it last year. He supports the right of
workers to organize and strike, but he remained strongly opposed
to a bill that passed this session and plans to veto.
The president of the CBIA backs him up.

Speaker 5 (01:43):
That really tips the skills of balance that we have
in connect gate with the employer employee, and now the
unemployment fund would pay for striking benefits, so the employer's
basically paying for people to go out on strike against
the employer, which doesn't make sense.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
The Governor's cars for the driveway weather he's here at
the governor's mansion.

Speaker 6 (02:00):
Don't know, but you can see they've got the driveway
block and they've got him. Hundreds of union workers going
around in front, yelling at him, letting him know what
this means to them, and they say, you know, in
the past, he's been very supportive, even recently with the
picket lines at Pratt Whitney.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
I appreciate him coming out to the picket line urging
us to hold the fight. And now we just need
a little more help. Sometimes it takes a little legislation
to help get us over the finish line.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
The union says, states like New Jersey and New York
already have passed similar legislation.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Totally. I was wondering if it was another numbskull. Connecticut
is the only ones of New York and New Jersey too.
Look that one guy midway through there makes an interesting point.
You know, you put a ticking clock, you say, hey,
we'll strike for two weeks. By two weeks, you're starting
to pay into unemployment, you know. And that's well said.
And I took some hits for my coverage last time around.

(02:50):
You know, why do you hate workers and this and that?
I don't. I'm not a fan of unions though really
at all. Never happened. He references Pratt and Whitney and
he's like, you know, they almost ran into some trouble there, right,
and they didn't and it got resolved. And beyond that
they with the ticking clock. With all due respect to
that guy, it's a fair point saying. You know they're

(03:11):
going to see that and be like, as of Monday,
we got to start paying it. It's chump change to
to big boys, that's chump change. If they're not budgeting
on something serious, a demand of yours, if not several
demands made by a union steward and striking workers, probably
significant things. Paying into unemployment, that's chump change comparatively, and

(03:35):
they'll play that game once you get into the head budding,
the stubbornness, the back and forth. Look, I hate to
say it. It's not a solution in any way. So
it's two weeks and then after to talk about getting
like leisurely. All roads lead back. It's like when Kramer
found out that they were going back to work and
he's like, you have a job, and what was it?
The baby place comes in and stuffs his jacket into

(04:02):
the vidic gets goodness. See you guys. None of the
guys came back because they had gone out on strike
for years. Because you will set into a routine, you'll
almost not want it to be over. You're getting paid
a portion of your pay by unemployment. Anyway, it's not
a clock. I wouldn't say. It doesn't feel like a
clock to me, like, oh, now it's on. It's gonna

(04:24):
tick off management owners, CEOs who have you. It's gonna
be chump chained. You're going to get lethargic and have
a squawking wife in your ear with a honeydew list,
and you're going to be getting chump change. And the
demands are getting bigger. That's the other thing I would
have it. If it even seems the least bit effective,

(04:46):
the demands will only get more outrageous. I thought this
issue was good to put to bed. No, it wasn't
put to bed. Pratt and Whitney strike got resolved. It
got resolved without it, but it didn't necessitate it. That's
why the coverage stopped. And Whitney they figured it out.
They got there. It's time honored, we've done this for
I had some to say over one hundred years they're

(05:07):
about spent striking workers, I mean picket lines, and we
figured it out before this bizarre sort of pay to
stay home