Connecticut Passes Legislation to Ban 'Captive Audience' Meetings

​The Connecticut House of Representatives passed legislation on April 29 to ban so-called captive audience meetings, which unions say employers use to stymie organizing. We've gathered articles on the news from SHRM Online and other media outlets.

Second State with Such Legislation

Once Gov. Ned Lamont signs the bill into law, as he is expected to do, Connecticut will be the second state with such legislation. Oregon is the only other state with a law prohibiting captive audience meetings. The AFL-CIO views such laws as a protection against intimidation. The Connecticut Business and Industry Association has denounced such legislation as illegally intrusive in employer/employee relations and pre-empted by federal law.

(The Connecticut Mirror)

Bill's Limits

The bill does not prevent employees from agreeing to go to a meeting where their employer argues against unionization. But it does prevent an employer from disciplining or firing employees who choose not to attend that type of event.

(Connecticut Public Radio)

Infringement on Free Speech?

Businesses say the measure infringes on the ability of companies to freely communicate with employees and is pre-empted by federal law allowing them to lobby against unions so long as that "expression contains no threat of reprisal or force or promise of benefit."

(The Connecticut Mirror)

Use of Scare Tactics

Jessica Petronella, organizing director for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 371 in Fairfield County, Conn., said employers scare employees in captive audience meetings "by talking about dues, talking about assessments, and a lot of the information that they provide is not accurate." She said one employer told its workers that if they were to unionize, the company would close the store. "Though it's illegal to do that—to close the store for organizing—just having that in the back of your mind is incredibly intimidating," she said.

(Public News Service)

NLRB General Counsel Wants to Make Captive Audience Meetings Illegal

For more than 70 years, employers have had the right under federal law to convene captive audience meetings with employees about their statutory labor rights, including the right to refrain from forming unions. On April 7, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced in a memo that she will ask the NLRB to find such mandatory meetings unlawful.

(SHRM Online)