The trade union movement created the middle class, and it will be key to rebuilding it today. Strengthening Connecticut’s working families and labor movement means standing firmly with workers and protecting their right to collectively bargain for fair wages, strong benefits, and safe working conditions. We also need to reclaim the meaning of “family values.” Real family values are about ensuring that every family and individual has the support they need to succeed, not political slogans used to advance a far-right agenda. That means building a system of compassionate, inclusive policies that give everyone a fair chance to thrive. That is the core of my Workplace Democracy & Working Families agenda:
 

• Protect workers in job transitions: Expand unemployment benefits to cover striking workers and strengthen pay transparency laws, including banning salary history questions.

• Keep jobs and oversight local: Prevent outsourcing of state-funded work and properly staff the Department of Labor to speed up investigations and enforcement.

• Regulate AI in the workplace: Require transparency and human oversight in hiring, firing, and promotion decisions, ban hidden algorithms, and ensure AI enhances—not replaces—jobs.

• Strengthen training and apprenticeships: Expand state-supported apprenticeships tied to public projects and protect strong training standards through prevailing wage laws and apprenticeship ratios.

• Defend worker standards: Maintain strong occupational licensing requirements and resist weakening prevailing wage or project labor agreements.

• Support paid family and medical leave: Improve benefits and duration, especially since most claims are for personal illness, and ensure the system remains accessible and strong.

• Make childcare affordable: Establish universal childcare with caps tied to income, expanded free access for lower-income families, and full funding for Care4Kids to eliminate waitlists.

• Support families with direct financial relief: Enact a permanent, inflation-indexed, fully refundable Child Tax Credit to reduce child poverty and support working families.