Democrats Give Up Benefits For Locked-Out Workers
DENVER (AP) — Colorado Democrats have backed off a bill to allow unemployment benefits workers locked-out by employers as a defensive maneuver during labor disputes.
The proposal was defeated for the year Friday by the Senate after the sponsoring Democrat, Sen. Lucia Guzman, said the measure needs more work.
Workers who are locked-out by a company at the end of a labor contract are already eligible for unemployment benefits.
The bill would have extended that benefit in defensive lockouts. The last example of that was 1996, when Safeway locked-out its employees when King Soopers workers went on strike. The grocers were in joint negotiations with the workers.
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