AFL-CIO Applauds Labor Committee for Voting Minimum Wage Bills Out of Committee

Sal Luciano, President of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, made the following statement in response to the Labor and Public Employees Committee voting in support of raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour:

“We applaud the members of the Labor Committee for voting to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022. The passage of these bills out of committee is a critical first step in the process to help over 300,000 workers get a raise in our state.

“Working people deserve a fair return on their work. It’s incredibly disheartening that a full-time worker in Connecticut should have to struggle to put food on the table, pay rent, or take care of their children because of low pay. No one who works full time should be forced to live in or near poverty.

“Connecticut was the first state to adopt a $10.10 minimum wage. Once a leader, we now lag behind – New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island all have a higher minimum wage than Connecticut. But today, the Labor Committee is providing working people a real opportunity to catch up and receive wages they can sustain a family on.”

# # #