The state would decide whether management or employees are at fault for lockouts during labor disputes under a bill that passed a House committee Wednesday on a 6-5 party-line vote.
If the state decides management has barred its doors to squeeze concessions from workers, those employees would be eligible for unemployment benefits.
It’s a return to a system the state used before 1999, when Republicans changed the law following a lengthy dispute in the state’s grocery industry that led to strikes and lockouts. Current law leaves the state out of disputes.
Originally, the bill would have affected contract negotiations between grocery workers and the big chains set for May. But its effective date is now July 2010.
The measure moves to the full House.
Jessica Fender, The Denver Post
