HARTFORD - In his first speech to a business audience since being sworn in as governor, Democrat Dannel Malloy told nearly 600 executives Friday that he supports paid sick leave for employees - a key issue that business lobbyists have been fighting against for years.
Liberal legislators have been pushing for Connecticut to become the first state in the nation to mandate paid sick days for employees. The bill has passed in the House of Representatives and Senate at different times, but the issue has never reached the governor's desk.
The Connecticut Business and Industry Association, which sponsored the event where Malloy spoke Friday, has been leading the charge against paid sick days by saying it would be a costly and unnecessary mandate on businesses.
"I want to remind you. I'm a Democrat,'' Malloy told the crowd in a downtown Hartford hotel ballroom. "And I believe in appropriate regulation. ... We're not always going to agree. That's a simple truth. We're going to have disagreements.''
He then talked about the workers at the hotel who served coffee Friday morning and could come into contact with those at the event.
"I hope none of them were sick and came to work today because they feared that, if they didn't, they would lose their job,'' Malloy said. "Some of you have children that you dropped off at a day-care center today. I hope none of your children were dropped off at a day care center where people came to work with the flu or with a cold or some other malady because they feared they would lose their job if they didn't show up today.''
Businesses, though, have fought bitterly against paid sick days - led by the CBIA lobbyists who patrol the hallways at the Capitol.
Joseph Brennan, the chief lobbyist for CBIA, said after Malloy's inaugural address this week that CBIA is not resigned that paid sick leave will become the law - despite the new governor's support. The issue has essentially been tied in the 36-member Senate in recent years, and three Democratic incumbents were not sworn in this week. As such, the Democrats currently hold an advantage of 20 to 13 with three special elections coming up on Tuesday, February 22. The announcement of the special elections was made late Friday afternoon.
"We have five months ahead of us to have those debates both in the legislature and with the governor,'' Brennan said. "It's been an extremely tight vote in the Senate over the last couple of years, and that's why the bill hasn't gone forward. We've got a lot of turnover in the Senate.''
He added, "There's no way we would concede on that. ... No, there's no way in the world that we would concede that, given the fact that we still don't have a full complement of senators or House members at this point.''