Community Corner

Connecticut's Minimum Wage Would Jump to $8.70 by January

The state Senate approved an increase in the minimum wage Thursday, May 23.


By Eileen McNamara

Folks making minimum wages in Connecticut will likely get a 45 cent raise come Jan. 1, 2014 and then another 30 cent raise by 2015 under a proposal approved Thursday by the state Senate. 

The Senate voted 21-15 to approve the wage hikes, which would see the minimum wage increase from $8.25 to $8.70 next year and then to $9 in 2015. With House Democrats behind the proposal, along with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the wage increase is all but assured passage this legislative session, the Connecticut Mirror reports.

"This change will make it just a little easier for working people in our state without adversely impacting the business community,” the website quotes Malloy on the bill's passage “Studies have shown that increasing the minimum wage is one of the best ways to get children out of poverty."

“We’re happy any time we see an increase in the minimum wage. It doesn’t matter if the governor is a Democrat, Republican or independent,” John Olsen, the president of the state AFL-CIO, told the website.  “We’ll continue to fight.”

All 14 of the Senate's Republicans voted against the measure, arguing it would hurt small businesses. Joining them in opposing the bill was Democrat Joan Hartley of Waterbury, according to the Hartford Courant. 


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