It’s no secret that Connecticut is a blue, union-friendly state.But recent pushes in the General Assembly to pass new pro-labor legislation or workplace mandates will hurt the state’s business climate and economic recovery coming out of the pandemic.First, the state Senate on April 12 passed a bill that would provide unemployment benefits to striking workers, […]
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It’s no secret that Connecticut is a blue, union-friendly state.
But recent pushes in the General Assembly to pass new pro-labor legislation or workplace mandates will hurt the state’s business climate and economic recovery coming out of the pandemic.
First, the state Senate on April 12 passed a bill that would provide unemployment benefits to striking workers, something only a handful of other states allow. Another bill awaiting Senate action would prohibit employers from requiring workers to attend company-sponsored meetings primarily intended to convey an employer’s opinion about various matters, including unionization efforts.
There’s also a proposal that requires certain companies — including larger retail and restaurant chains — to provide employees at least 14 days advance notice of their work schedule. The so-called Fair Work Week bill also requires companies to pay hourly workers for shifts that get canceled with less than a week’s notice.
Last year, state lawmakers approved bills that required: employers to recall certain workers laid off during the pandemic in order of seniority; and developers of all renewable energy projects to pay employees the prevailing wage, something typically required only in public works projects.
Many of these bills originated in the Labor and Public Employees Committee, which has become the target of much criticism from the business community, including the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.
According to a report published in November by the Office of Legislative Research (OLR), the labor committee has passed 28 workplace mandates since 2016.
Each of the mandates “either created a new requirement for private-sector employers to meet, tightened an existing requirement, or prohibited [employers] from taking certain actions,” according to the OLR report.
Mandates have included everything from gradually increasing the state’s hourly minimum wage to $15 by June 1, 2023, to establishing a paid family and medical leave program for companies of all sizes, and requiring employers to provide job applicants and employees with wage ranges for their positions.
Many of these mandates come up on an annual basis and don’t get through the legislature, but it only takes the approval of one or two a year to create a more challenging business environment.
Waning influence
This is not meant to be an anti-union column. Organized labor has its place in the economy, and employers with unionized workforces ought to negotiate wages, benefits and other perks in good faith.
And there are good intentions behind many of these proposals, including trying to secure higher pay and greater job security for workers, some of whom earn wages that make it difficult to make ends meet.
But every new mandate places additional cost and administrative burdens on employers, many of which are trying to recover from the pandemic, and feeling significant pressure from inflation and the labor shortage. Some are also competing in a global marketplace where cost and regulatory differences between states and countries can influence where companies invest capital and resources.
In some ways, it seems like these laws or bills aim to make up for the waning influence of unions in Connecticut and across the country.
In 2021, union members accounted for 14.6% of wage and salary workers in Connecticut, down significantly from the 1995 peak of 20.2%, according to the New England Office of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Connecticut had approximately 223,000 union members last year.
As we head into the final weeks of the legislative session, lawmakers should reject any new workplace mandates. More importantly, the General Assembly needs to change its long-term mindset.
Connecticut does not need to be a testing ground for every new worker protection. And just because a few other states have adopted a new mandate, doesn’t mean Connecticut should follow suit.
If lawmakers really want to improve the economic fortunes of the state, they would be better off considering and adopting legislation that will make it less costly and easier to do business here.
