CBIA: Legislature’s Labor Committee Renews Assault on Small Businesses

The state’s largest business organization today issued the following response to a package of new workplace mandates proposed by the Connecticut General Assembly’s Labor and Public Employees Committee. 

“This is the exact opposite of what Connecticut’s struggling small businesses need to recover from the pandemic,” said CBIA president and CEO Chris DiPentima.

“Lawmakers should be making it easier—not more difficult—to create jobs and keep companies here. It’s one thing to talk about helping businesses and our economy and it’s disheartening when actions don’t mirror the rhetoric.

“Yet another torrent of potential workplace mandates makes a challenging situation even tougher—further driving up the high cost of doing business, dumping administrative burdens on smaller employers, and reinforcing tired old perceptions about the state’s business climate.”

Eric Gjede, CBIA vice president for public policy, noted that the Labor Committee approved 75 workplace mandates in the last six years, “all during a period of anemic job and economic growth.”

“The numbers don’t lie,” he said. “Connecticut’s unemployment rate is tied for sixth highest in the country, job growth last year trailed most of the region and the country, and there are 74,300 fewer people working today than before the pandemic.

“Yet once again, committee leadership is demonstrating a troubling disconnect between their policy priorities and the state’s critical economic needs.

“It’s time for lawmakers to focus on solutions for making the state more affordable, reducing the high cost of doing business here, and supporting hard-hit small businesses as they attempt to recover from the pandemic.”

CBIA is Connecticut’s largest business organization, with thousands of member companies, small and large, representing a diverse range of industries from every part of the state. For more information, please contact Ali Warshavsky (860.244.1929).