Minimum Wage Hike, Labor History Bill Move Forward

The Labor Committee this week approved a bill that would increase the minimum wage in Connecticut from $8.25 per hour to $9.75 per hour in two stages over the next two years, and then indexed starting in 2016.

SB 387 was approved in a 7-4 vote along party lines, with Democrats supporting and Republicans opposing.

It would increase the minimum wage from $8.25 to $9 per hour beginning Jan. 1, 2014, raise it again to $9.75 per hour beginning Jan. 1, 2015, and link future raises to the consumer price index beginning Jan. 1, 2016. 

Also approved by the committee was HB 5713, which would require the state Board of Education to provide public schools in Connecticut with materials and curricula about labor history and law, including organized labor and the collective bargaining process. 

What should be the No. 1 priority of our education system is closing Connecticut’s worst-in-the-nation achievement gap.

Public schools already teach students about the labor movement’s contributions to American history, so HB 5713 is just an unnecessary diversion from focusing on providing our young people a solid foundation in core subjects. 

For more information, contact CBIA’s Eric Gjede at 860.244.1931 or eric.gjede@cbia.com.