A youngster holds up a pro-union sign during a break between speeches at Labor Day festival in Milwaukee in 2024. Maryland lawmakers are looking at state protections for workers in the face of possible action by the Trump administration. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)
The House on Tuesday passed a bill that would ban an effective union-busting tactic, a first step toward codifying the worker-protection measure at the state level in the face of a threat from the Trump administration.
“I’m hoping that more legislation moves through the House of Delegates and through the Senate this session that really advocates for working people in our state,” the bill’s sponsor, Del. Joe Vogel (D-Montgomery), said Monday. “We need to be on the side of workers right now.”
But critics said the bill, which prohibits employers from punishing workers who refuse to attend a mandatory meeting where political or religious matters are discussed, will just end up in court over the broadness of its definition of “political matters.”
“This is another bill that will very quickly and very automatically wind up the state of Maryland in litigation,” said House Minority Leader Jason Buckel (R-Allegany) during floor debate Tuesday.
House Bill 233 passed on a 94-37 vote Tuesday. The Maryland Worker Freedom Act targets so-called “captive audience meetings,” in which an employer expresses their views on a topic. Advocates say such meetings are often used to deter workers from union activity.
“This is the tool of choice for union busters during a unionization campaign,” Vogel said.
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The bill includes “the decision to join or support a political party or potential civic, community, fraternal, or labor organization” in its definition of political matters, and says workers cannot face repercussions for refusing to attend such a meeting.
While the National Labor Relations Board deemed captive audience meetings illegal in 2024, there has been renewed concern that the protection might be rolled back under President Donald Trump.
Days after his inauguration, Trump fired NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, a Biden appointee, along with a Democratic board member. Acting General Counsel William Cowen, whom Trump appointed to the role, has already rescinded numerous actions taken by his predecessor, opening the door for a further erosion of worker protections.
The captive audience rule is still on the books – for now – but Vogel said “we don’t know what’s going to happen under the Trump administration.” But nothing is likely to change in the short-term – an NLRB spokesperson said that there are currently only two members on the five-member board, one shy of the three needed to take any action.
Even now, when it is officially prohibited by the NLRB, Vogel said workers are being subjected to captive audience meetings.
“I’ve been on a lot of picket lines across the state of Maryland, and was even in DC… just last week,” Vogel said. “And one of the first questions I ask is, ‘Are you all being subjected to captive audience meetings?’ And the answer, more often than not, is yes”
The Maryland Chamber of Commerce opposed the bill in a letter submitted to the House Economic Matters Committee. The letter said the bill “directly violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments … by impeding employers’ right to express their viewpoints on political matters, including issues related to labor and unionization.”
“If enacted,” the chamber wrote, “this legislation would likely be subject to immediate legal challenges.”
But Vogel and others who support the measure stressed that the bill does not prevent these types of meetings from being held – it only prohibits employers from punishing those who choose not to attend.
“Notably, this legislation does not infringe on an employer’s ability to share information required by law or casually communicate,” Donna Edwards, president of the Maryland State and D.C. AFL-CIO, wrote in a letter supporting the bill. “Rather, it strikes a balance, creating a fair workplace where employees are free to form and hold their own opinions without fear of intimidation or retaliation.”
This is the second try for Vogel, who saw a similar bill die in committee last year. The House bill now goes to the Senate, where a companion bill has been introduced.
But Buckel pointed to other, largely Democratic states, including Connecticut and California, that have found themselves in court over similar laws.
“I regret sometimes that I chose to just not join the attorney general’s office years ago,” Buckel said, “because it is guaranteed lifetime employment” due to the actions of the General Assembly.
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