2025 Legislative Agenda

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The Connecticut AFL-CIO will prioritize its work to pass legislation:

  • Authorizing striking workers to access unemployment benefits.
  • Amending the state’s restrictive "fiscal roadblocks" to (1) make state taxes more equitable; and (2) use existing budget surpluses to make critical investments in public education, higher education, affordable housing, childcare, long-term care, expanded healthcare access, state agency staffing levels and other vital services upon which Connecticut residents depend.

The Connecticut AFL-CIO will stand ready to support affiliates in their efforts to:

  • Pass collective bargaining agreements, arbitration awards and memoranda of understanding delivered to the General Assembly.
  • Block all attempts to undermine collective bargaining rights, binding arbitration, prevailing wage standards and project labor agreements and enhance the State Labor Relations Act as needed.
  • Enact measures to protect the integrity of the state’s registered apprenticeship programs, including preserving existing apprenticeship to journeyperson ratios.
  • Expand the use of project labor agreements on housing construction projects by matching public dollars with investments from union pensions funds and/or other sources.
  • Defeat efforts to weaken occupational licensing standards.
  • Combat wage theft by hiring dozens of new wage and hour inspectors at the Department of Labor.
  • Authorize the State Comptroller to withhold payment to contractors and subcontractors who violate wage and workplace standards on public construction projects.
  • Authorize the Department of Consumer Protection to enforce stop work orders for occupational license violations.
  • Amend the adult recreational cannabis statute to clarify that all employees must be paid at least the full minimum wage.
  • Allow temporary state employees to be included in the appropriate state bargaining units upon the request of an exclusive representative of a bargaining unit.
  • Establish standards and limits for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and include the voices of impacted workers in those processes.
  • Establish a permanent funding source and formula for public institutions of higher education and an expanded PACT program that also includes costs to fully fund legacy fringe costs, negotiated wage increases and a substantial increase in the hiring of full-time staff to reduce the overreliance on part-time contingency staff.
  • Reconfigure the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System (CTECS) management structure to ensure it is effectively managed to meet the needs of students and workforce demands.
  • Improve paraeducator hiring and retention by:
    • Enacting a living wage;
    • Providing secure retirement options;
    • Renewing funding to maintain and expand the delivery of professional development; 
    • Renewing funding to maintain and expand health insurance subsidies; and
    • Prohibiting the privatization of paraeducator recruitment and hiring.
  • Expand funding for special education and set class size limits and/or establish staffing guidelines for special educators and staff.
  • Prohibit the disclosure of public employees’ home addresses under the Freedom of Information Act.
  • Amend the Certificate of Need (CON) process to ensure hospital sales are completed in a timely manner and to protect vital services.
  • Require municipalities to provide a defined benefit pension that meets or exceeds the benefits provided by Connecticut Municipal Employee Retirement System (CMERS) to all police officers and firefighters.
  • Expand the scope of qualifying circumstances for worker post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSI) to be covered by workers' compensation.
  • Prohibit the privatization of state prisons.
  • Expand the State Contracting Standards Board’s authority to include review of quasi-public agencies, UConn, and the UConn Health Center Finance Corporation.
  • Expand the Connecticut Retirement Security Program to include Personal Care Attendants (PCAs).
  • Establish timelines for repair of utility poles to protect bargaining unit work.
  • Monitor efforts to establish protections for gig economy workers.

The Connecticut AFL-CIO will support allies in their efforts to:

  • Support the protection of tenants' rights and the establishment of tenants' unions and the passage of legislation enacting just cause eviction protections.
  • Prohibit non-compete agreements.
  • Limit and regulate "on-call" scheduling practices in the retail and hospitality industries by passing “Fair Workweek” legislation.
  • Oppose efforts of the "earned wage advances" industry to exempt themselves from small loan acts and interest rate caps which would allow them to prey on low-wage workers and trap them into the need for numerous advances/payday loans.
  • Support legislation to implement "no-excuse absentee voting" in a way that expands voter participation.