News release from the Department of Labor:
The public is welcome to provide comment on matters related to low wages and increasing the minimum wage at a July 20 public hearing in Bridgeport. Sponsored by the Connecticut Low Wage Employer Advisory Board, the public hearing will be held in the Bridgeport City Hall’s Council Chambers, 45 Lyon Terrace.
Those interested in speaking are asked to arrive at the Council Chambers by 5:30 p.m. in order to sign-up as a participant at the hearing, which will be held from 6 to 8 p.m.Established as the result of Public Act 15-5 Section 485, the 13-member Advisory Board, staffed by the Connecticut Department of Labor, is responsible for studying a variety of issues connected to low wage workers and advising the State Labor Commissioner, the Connecticut Departments of Development Services and Social Services, as well as the Office of Early Childhood on the following:
· Matters related to the causes and effects of businesses paying low wages to state residents;
· Public assistance usage among working state residents;
· Minimum wage rates needed to ensure working state residents can achieve an economically stable living standard;
· Improvement of the quality of public assistance programs that affect state residents;
· Wages and working conditions of the workforce that delivers services to low-wage working families, and
· Reliance of business on state-funded public assistance programs.Those with questions about the hearing or the Connecticut Low Wage Employer Advisory Board are welcome to email inquiries to DOL.CTMinimumWagePublicHearing@ct.gov or call 203-455-2855.
*** How about increasing unemployment benefit$ say 10% more during the final 13-week remaining period, because the State is not going to entertain raising the minimum wage any more than what’s already been talked about for the future! But tea, coffee and pastries would be nice over some political wishful thinking and the usual B/S, no? ***
How about bringing living-wage jobs to Bridgeport, supported by government/corporate sponsored training programs?
Do we really want to think in terms of the perpetuation of a preponderance of sub-living-wage jobs via accommodation of such corporate pay scales by government subsistence programs? It seems as if the government is more interested in sustaining a low-wage underclass for exploitation by corporate influences rather than in engineering an economy that provides living-wage opportunities for all citizens. It seems the discussion of low-wage workers is really centered around the justification of sub-standard corporate compensation scales through the proliferation of low-wage-worker government subsidies. This is really tantamount to corporate welfare. This is the type of thing that guarantees big returns to Walmart and McDonald’s shareholders. Truly, there needs to be a situation of full time, living wage employment for all US citizens who are willing and able to work. Those not able to work should be treated with respect and humanity and sustained at a decent level by a prosperous society. Those of sound mind and body who are not willing to work in the context of an accommodating job market should be left to their own devices.