May 9, 2019

Rep. Polletta Fights for CT Businesses

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Opposes Massive Increase in State Minimum Wage

During lengthy debate in the House that began at 10:00 p.m. Wednesday night and ended Thursday afternoon at 12:05 p.m., State Representative Joe Polletta (R-68) said he remains concerned about policies that will hurt Connecticut’s already struggling business community and voted against a measure to increase the state minimum wage to $15 within four years.

“Workers deserve to be properly paid for their efforts based on myriad business factors, including local employment conditions, skills and years of service in an industry,” Rep. Polletta said. “Unfortunately, arbitrary salary numbers assigned by Hartford politicians do not reflect the business climate and market conditions of our state and this legislation will cost jobs and ultimately do more harm to lower-wage or less-skilled workers.”

HB 5004 – An Act Increasing the Minimum Fair Wage – raises the state’s minimum hourly wage from its current $10.10 to $11.00 on October 1 of this year, $12.00 on September 1, 2020; $13.00 on August 1, 2021; $14.00 on July 1, 2022 and $15.00 on October 15, 2023. The bill also ties future minimum wage increases to the Employment Cost Index and requires the labor commissioner to make adjustments to the wage without further legislative approval.

“This legislation is punitive upon the employers of our state who are the true economic engines of our economy,” Rep. Polletta said. “And tying future increases to the Employment Cost Index will bind the hands of future legislatures to maintain a level wage or reduce the minimum wage in times of fiscal stress, recession or depression. The fact Democrats proposed and voted to remove their oversight on an issue as important as the minimum wage speaks volumes about their inability to understand simple business concepts.”

During the debate, Rep. Polletta said several local employers have specifically mentioned that this raise will create substantial wage compression and cost employers even more. Wage compression occurs when new employees are paid more than existing workers and businesses are forced to raise salaries for their current staff.

“Businesses can only charge a certain amount for their products or services before customers refuse to patronize them any longer, and these changes will undoubtedly have other unintended consequences for many currently employed workers, and thousands who will be looking for entry-level work in the future,” Rep. Polletta said. “Businesses in Greater Waterbury and statewide will be negatively impacted by this legislation, and employers in our area have stated publicly that they will eliminate positions or reduce hours, especially with younger and entry-level workers, to comply with this latest mandate. It’s bad legislation.”