WORKING PEOPLE COME UP SHORT ON LEGISLATION TO LIMIT THE OUTSOURCING OF AMERICAN JOBS  

The last legislative voting session prior to the Holiday break proved to have some ups and downs for working people.  Although the Senate approved two strong pro-worker bills, the State Assembly “held” legislation seeking to limit the outsourcing of American jobs and to protect taxpayers from subsidizing corporate “job destroyers.”

A-1992, which seeks to end the egregious practice of rewarding corporations with EDA taxpayer funded “job creation” grants when they ship American call center jobs overseas, met strong corporate opposition and was removed from consideration by the State Assembly.

With only eight days left in the legislative session when they return after the Holidays, the clock is ticking on legislation seeking to save Jersey jobs.

Senate Passes Two Strong Pro-Labor Bills

S-1780 (Diegnan / Turner): The bill passed the Senate, 22-17. The bill seeks to set standard call center job retention requirements in order to be eligible for Economic Development Authority tax breaks.   

S-3170 (Cryan / Pou): The bill passed the Senate, 27-13. It requires companies in New Jersey to provide 90 days’ notice before a mass layoff and forces companies in New Jersey to give their laid-off employees a week of severance pay for every year of service.  The bill is in response to large corporations such as Toys R Us and Sears that cheated workers by neglecting to pay their agreed-to severance pay.

The bills were supported by the New Jersey State AFL-CIO.

Assembly Passes Bill to Set Financial Penalties for Misclassifying Workers as Independent Contractors

A-5839 (Moriarty / Verrelli / DeAngelo) passed by a vote of 53-23-1.

The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks the sponsors of these important pro-worker bills and all the affiliated unions that have been working for their passage.