Governor Murphy Signs Two Pro-Labor Bills into Law
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO was proud to participate in a bill signing ceremony today at the State House where Gov. Murphy signed two bi-partisan, pro-labor bills into law. They are:
A-4429: “Captive Audience” law. The law bans the mandatory requirement employers use to force employees to attend meetings on labor issues. The bill also requires employers to clearly communicate to their employees that attendance at these meetings is voluntary and also ensures that employees that choose not to attend these meetings are protected from retaliation by their employer.
We thank the sponsors for their leadership on this bill: Anthony Verrelli (D-15), Wayne DeAngelo (D-14), Christian Barranco (R-25), Joe Lagana (D-38), Vin Gopal (D-11), Don Guardian (R-2), Clinton Calabrese (D-36), Yvonne Lopez (D-19), Codey Miller (D-4), Shanique Speight (D-29), Kevin Egan (D-17), Mitchelle Drulis (D-16), Paul Moriarty (D-4), Latham Tiver (R-8), Troy Singleton (D-7), Patrick Diegnan (D-18) and Linda Greenstein (D-14).
S-1054 (Atkins / Carter / Sampson / Greenstein / Gopal): The law requires instruction on the labor movement in social studies for grades 6-12. The bi-partisan bill had 22 co-sponsors.
The bill requires that students are taught about the history of organized labor, strikes, the right to organize, collective bargaining, as well as various labor laws such as paid family leave, minimum wage, workers compensation, health and safety, unemployment insurance, among others. These positive contributions made by unions to our economy and the workforce are necessary to be taught in our educational system, so students have a better understanding, and knowledge of how relevant organized labor is in our society.
This landmark legislation not only sets a precedent here in New Jersey, but across our national labor movement, as today of New Jersey becomes just one of few states in the nation with legislation that advances students’ understanding of the importance of our labor movement’s history and contributions.
Many of these students will soon enter the workforce, and as a result of this law, will be knowledgeable about how and why unions are formed and are necessary. They will also understand the social and economic issues that unions fight for to improve not only the lives of workers, but society as well.
“Governor Murphy has signed a significant amount of pro-labor legislation into law over the past seven and a half years, and the addition of these two laws further illustrates his commitment to working families and unions,” said Charles Wowkanech, President of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO. “We sincerely appreciate his support, as well as the leadership of the prime sponsors of these bills for their advocacy,” he stated. “These new laws address two important issues – protecting workers’ rights to free speech in the workplace by banning “captive audience” meetings and educating students about the role unions play in the economy and society. The labor education law is important because many of these students will soon enter the workforce, and because of this law, they will be knowledgeable about how and why unions are formed and are necessary. Understanding the positive contributions made by unions is important and will now be taught in grades 6-12 so students have a better understanding and knowledge of how relevant organized labor is. Collectively, these two new laws illustrate that New Jersey continues to be a strong union state,” he concluded.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO sincerely thanks the Governor for his steadfast support of our legislative agenda over the past seven and a half years, the sponsors and legislators that voted in favor, and the affiliated unions that advocated for passage of these laws.