FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | August 28, 2025
Contact: Sarah Fulton (302) 401-1114
STANTON — In response to Governor Matt Meyer’s veto of Senate Bill 63,Senator Jack Walsh and House Majority Whip Ed Osienski issued the following statement:
“With Donald Trump in the White House, labor leaders have come to anticipate attacks from the federal government that harm our unions. It’s typical to see a Republican take a page out of the GOP political playbook when it comes to workers’ rights. His Administration has a long history of opposing collective bargaining and chipping away at other central workers’ protections.
So it is disheartening to see a Democratic governor stand in blatant opposition to local laborers and Delawareans who deserve protection from unlicensed and potentially unethical contractors by vetoing Senate Bill 63.
This legislation, which Governor Meyer has chosen to veto just days before Labor Day, simply prohibits employers from incorrectly classifying employees as independent contractors. This legislation is designed to ensure fairness for those workers around the issues of income tax withholding, unemployment insurance, wage laws, and workers’ compensation.
By vetoing this bill, the Governor has chosen to side with powerful contractor lobbies instead of the thousands of honest workers—many of them immigrants and people of color—who are cheated out of fair pay and basic protections every day. Vetoing it sends a dangerous message — that Delaware will continue to tolerate loopholes that allow bad actors to exploit workers, skirt taxes, and undermine law-abiding contractors who do things the right way.
Now more than ever, Delawareans deserve pro-worker leadership. Workers in our state — union and non-union alike — cannot afford to have their elected leaders show any hesitation on their commitment to expanding worker protections in the face of attacks from the Trump Administration.
We call on the General Assembly to override the Governor’s veto and stand with workers. We will not stop fighting until Delaware puts the dignity of labor before the profits of those who benefit from broken systems.”
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