A collective bargaining agreement is not the only way a labor movement can represent workers.

The four-week suspension was for just cause. Additionally, there was no inherent violation of the labor agreement in the club's decision to pay Owens but not practice or play him due to the nature of the player's conduct and its destructive and continuing threat to the team.

We make our own independent agreement with our workers.

The Department of Labor is committed to getting benefits to eligible workers and their families as quickly as possible.

Businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to hire qualified workers to fill specific positions, especially high-tech and skilled-labor jobs, which are in demand in Connecticut. The retirement of the baby boom generation in a few years will lead to a critical shortage of workers with the skills necessary to compete in today's high-tech global economy. We need to make sure that employees entering the work force can help drive the innovation and productivity gains that our economy needs to remain competitive in the global marketplace.

Our labor agreement was one that the membership overwhelmingly ratified, and it turned out to be a pretty decent labor agreement. We gained wages, gained benefits — pensions were status quo — and we redesigned and restructured the workforce to be more efficient, as we have all across the industry.