Connecticut Senate approves bill to allow striking workers to collect unemployment after 14 days

Hartford — The Connecticut State Senate on Wednesday passed an amendment to Senate Bill 8 that makes workers engaged in a ‘‘labor dispute’’ eligible for unemployment benefits after 14 consecutive days on strike for disputes beginning on or after Dec. 14, 2026. The vote followed hours of floor debate and a roll‑call tally of 24 yeas to 11 nays.

Supporters said the measure would prevent striking families from falling into financial crisis. ‘‘When workers are out of work… having the benefit of unemployment insurance will really help workers put food on the table,’’ Senator Kushner said in support of the amendment, which became the text of the bill.

Opponents described the proposal as broadly written and warned it could be open to abuse and threaten the solvency of the state’s Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. ‘‘This bill takes those three things and throws them right out the window,’’ Senator Sampson said, arguing that the bill would allow a single employee to walk off the job and file for benefits by virtue of the statute’s wide definition of ‘‘labor dispute.’’

The debate turned on several technical and policy questions. Senators pressed whether the bill requires collective bargaining negotiations, whether a single employee could qualify, and how the Department of Labor would adjudicate claims. Proponents pointed to long‑standing statutory definitions and to experience in other states: ‘‘New York State and New Jersey have had this statute in place for a number of years,’’ the bill’s sponsor said during debate.

After extended exchanges about fairness, the role of government in private negotiations and potential impacts on employers’ experience ratings, the Senate ordered an immediate roll‑call vote. The clerk announced a tally of 35 voting, 24 in favor and 11 opposed; one senator was recorded as absent during the vote. Senate leadership asked that the bill be transmitted at once to the House of Representatives.

What the bill does — and what it does not do — is central to the dispute. As amended, the statute allows unemployment benefits to be paid beginning on the 15th day of a continuous strike or labor dispute; it also references existing statutory definitions of ‘‘labor dispute’’ used in Title 31. The bill leaves to the Department of Labor the adjudication of disputed claims and to the budget process any broader appropriations or structural changes to trust‑fund accounting.

The next steps: The bill will be sent to the Connecticut House. Supporters and opponents both signaled the controversy may continue there; Senate debate included predictions that the governor could veto the measure if it reaches his desk.

The Senate’s full debate included multiple amendments and procedural votes; the floor record shows repeated references to past strikes (Stop & Shop, Pratt & Whitney) and to New York and New Jersey experience with similar laws. The measure’s backers characterized it as a limited, targeted way to keep families from crisis during rare extended strikes. Its opponents said it would reshape bargaining incentives and risk higher unemployment taxes for employers.

The Senate’s action Wednesday does not itself change funding formulas or immediately expand payments; any budgetary effects would be considered in the annual/biennial budget process and through the Department of Labor’s administration of claims.

The bill’s passage marks a clear policy choice about how Connecticut balances the immediate needs of striking workers and the long‑term financial health of the unemployment insurance system. The House will now consider the measure.

Votes at the Senate: roll‑call vote on SB 8 as amended — Yea 24, Nay 11, 1 absent. The Senate ordered immediate transmittal to the House.