If raising the federal minimum wage would hurt businesses, as many aver, then it stands to reason that lowering the federal standard from $7.25 an hour would help. What are we waiting for? How about $5, perchance $3 an hour? That would be a steroid injection for our sluggish economy. Connecticut, which keeps raising its lowest wage, just doesn’t get it.
minimum wage
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut Senate debates, for a while, a $12 minimum wage
The leader of the Connecticut Senate introduced a surprise measure Thursday to raise the hourly minimum wage to $12 by Jan. 1, 2020, only to retreat in the face of an immediate Republican filibuster and a cool reception by the House of Representatives.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Minimum wage jobs cannot adequately support families in Connecticut
It is clear that minimum wage jobs cannot adequately support families in a state like Connecticut. The Federal Poverty Level, Âwhich is used widely in determining eligibility for various kinds of assistance, for a family of three is $20,160 and for a family of two is $16,020. The time is now for Connecticut to join the national chorus for fair wages across the board. Empirical evidence shows that when we increase our wages, the median income goes up.
Posted inPolitics
DeLauro urges Pope to address social ills in speech to Congress
WASHINGTON — Rep. Rosa DeLauro has led an effort by congressional Democrats to urge Pope Francis to bring his social teachings to Congress when the pontiff makes his historic speech there on Sept. 24.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy’s New Year’s resolution is to be ‘aggressive’
It is a holiday week, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is relaxed, at least on the Malloy scale. The New Year marks a midpoint in Malloy’s own up-and-down journey as governor, a natural moment for introspection, to assess where he’s been and think about what lies ahead, starting Wednesday when he begins a second term with a small inaugural parade and an address to a joint session of the General Assembly.
Posted inPolitics
Pelletier helps Dems on women’s issues
WASHINGTON — Lori Pelletier, the head of Connecticut AFL-CIO, was a main witness Tuesday at a Senate hearing on a wide range of women economic issues that Democrats hope will give them an edge with female voters this year, including equal pay and family leave.
Posted inPolitics
Courtney tussles with GOP lawmaker over fast food wages at military bases
Washington – Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, Wednesday took on Rep. Scott Rigell of Virginia and other Republicans who want to stop a hike in the minimum wage for restaurant workers on the nation’s military bases.
Posted inMoney
Despite CT lawmakers’ support, minimum wage bill falters in Senate
Washington — Senate Democrats Wednesday failed to move forward on a bill that would boost the federal minimum wage, likely killing the effort in Congress.
The bill failed on a 54-44 vote. Sixty votes were needed.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Raising the minimum wage: A good start, but not enough
Too much of our debate is around how expensive public assistance programs are rather than about how large corporations make huge profits by paying such low wages.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Live on every newscast, Malloy signs $10.10 minimum wage bill
Precisely timed to attract live coverage at the top of three local 6 o’clock newscasts, a jubilant Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed into law Thursday a bill that makes Connecticut the first state to embrace President Obama’s goal of a $10.10 minimum wage.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Connecticut becomes first state to pass $10.10 minimum wage
On partisan votes in both chambers, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a bill Wednesday that increases the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 by 2017. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will sign the bill into law Thursday night at the restaurant in New Britain visited by President Obama before a recent rally.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT poised to adopt $10.10 minimum wage Wednesday
With votes scheduled Wednesday in both chambers of the state legislature, Connecticut is poised to become the first state to adopt a $10.10 minimum wage, delivering on an election-year priority of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inPolitics
Foley’s support of minimum wage comes with caveats
On the minimum wage issue, Republican Tom Foley is more comfortable standing with President Obama than Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the Democrat he hopes to unseat this fall. Foley generally endorses the president’s call for a $10.10 minimum, but his endorsement comes with a long list of conditions and exceptions.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Obama at CCSU: Economy must work ‘for all of us’
New Britain – President Barack Obama told a pep-rally audience of students and politicians from across New England that his campaign for a $10.10 minimum wage was central to a broader call to address economic inequality in the U.S.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Obama arrives as Connecticut embraces his message, not him
President Obama’s visit here Wednesday comes a day after his job approval in the state hit an all-time low, but Connecticut still is a blue state well-primed to applaud his call for a higher minimum wage, an issue Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other Democrats see as a boost to their re-election campaigns in 2014.
