LD1501 - No Unemployment Insurance During Work Stoppages

(2016)

An Act To Amend the Law Regarding Disqualification for Unemployment Benefits during Stoppages of Work

Sponsored by Sponsored by: Rep. Joel Stetkis (R – Canaan)

What is the bill?

The Maine AFL-CIO opposes efforts that undermine striking workers’ economic security including their potential ability to collect unemployment insurance. Growing out of the Fairpoint strike, this bill was an attempt by the LePage Administration to guarantee that striking workers could never receive unemployment insurance. Going on strike is very difficult; workers only withhold their labor when they’ve exhausted all other viable options. This bill would have tipped the balance of power against workers and in favor of employers. It would have made things even more difficult for striking workers. The right to strike exists in a context of a fundamental power imbalance between the individual worker and a large corporation. Workers have banded together in unions and demanded rights – including the right to strike – as a way to address that power imbalance. We should be strengthening workers’ rights not weakening them. This bill was defeated in the House.

What happened?

Defeated

Votes