TEMP Act, Captive Audience Legislation Makes Progress in State Legislature

(TRENTON, N.J.) – New Jersey Teamsters are hard at work lobbying to advance two pieces of legislation critical to improving conditions for workers throughout the state. One bill would ban mandatory attendance at captive audience meetings, while another would require employers to protect their workers from exposure to extreme temperatures.

“New Jersey continues to be on the frontlines of protecting the working class at the state level and the Teamsters are leading the charge,” said Al Rispoli, President of Teamsters Joint Council 73. “I’d like to thank State Senator Joe Cryan, Senator Joe Lagana, Deputy Assembly Majority Leader Anthony Verrelli, Assemblymembers Annette Quijano, William Sampson, Gabriel Rodriguez, and everyone else in the legislature who has stood with us in our fight on behalf of New Jersey workers.”

Teamsters Local 177 Shop Steward Gerry Cortez recently testified in favor of S-2422/A-3521, which would establish an occupational heat stress standard and mandate that each employer develop, implement, and maintain an effective heat-related illness and injury prevention plan for its workforce. Cortez told the committee that passing the bill would extend many of the protections that he and co-workers at UPS won to the entire package delivery business.

“We’re here today fighting for protections for all workers, including the drivers at Amazon who do the same thing that I do but don’t yet have a union to back them,” Cortez said. “No worker should have to choose between their job and going home safely to their family. If irresponsible nonunion employers are allowed to profit from mistreating their employees, it creates a race to the bottom that puts lives at stake.”

On June 6, Teamsters Local 469 member John Doherty testified in favor of Assembly Bill 4429, which would ban mandatory attendance at captive audience meetings, employer-sponsored presentations filled with anti-union propaganda designed to discourage organizing efforts. Doherty testified about how he experienced captive audience meetings when he and his co-workers organized at Shred-It in Trenton.

“Our collective bargaining agreement addressed the issues that drove us to join the Teamsters; it also proved to us that nearly everything the company’s leadership told us during their anti-union meetings was a blatant lie,” Doherty said. “Most corporations can legally force their workers to listen to outright lies and propaganda about unions as soon as they catch wind of an organizing drive. The current status quo is an unlevel playing field, but more importantly, a fundamentally undemocratic one. That’s why New Jersey needs to pass Assembly Bill 4429 into law.”

Teamsters Joint Council 73 represents over 55,000 workers throughout New Jersey. For more information, go to teamstersjc73.org/.

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