Tercyak applauds minimum-wage findings

December 1, 2016

“People who work full time should not be living in poverty,” says James Bhandary-Alexander, who leads the Connecticut Low Wage Employer Advisory Board. “The single most effective policy tool [to achieve that] is raising the minimum wage.”

Bhandary-Alexander and others spoke as the board met at the Capitol and urged the General Assembly to pass legislation for raising Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage to $15 over several years.

“This is an issue that reaches across lines. Folks who look at things conservatively or liberally, or like to think they’re in the middle ... understand: If you go to work, you deserve to be able to live a decent life,” said Rep. Peter Tercyak (D-New Britain), the House chairman of the legislature’s Labor Committee.

The board is empowered by the legislature to advise the labor commissioner, the department of social services and the office of early childhood on working conditions and the impact of low-wages on families. Members have spent 10 months studying the issue and, by a vote of 10-3, approved the recommendation to raise the rate in a series of steps.

For more, read this Courant news story.