AFL-CIO unveils legislative agenda, takes aim at CBIA
http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2010/03/05/news/doc4b91d089d9116132499927.txt
Saturday, March 6, 2010
By SCOTT WHIPPLE
Staff Writer
HARTFORD — State labor leaders and union-endorsed legislators came out with “guns blazing” Thursday.
Though the announced purpose of the press conference in the Legislative Office Building was an unveiling of Connecticut AFL-CIO’s 2010 legislative agenda, the target was often the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.
State AFL-CIO President John Olsen, Secretary-Treasurer Lori Pelletier, and state Sen. Edith Prague, D-Norwich, (and 10 other towns) took aim at the 10,000-member business organization.
Olsen said CBIA ads about jobs and cutting taxes were “simplistic. A small-minded approach like theirs is a major mistake. Instead, we should be looking at how we can solve the state’s problem of economic development.”
Pelletier wanted to know why CBIA always used the term “business unfriendly” when mentioning labor. “We’re trying to be pro-active by keeping jobs here,” she said.
Prague, chairwoman of the labor committee, said every time a bill comes before her committee that would protect workers “CBIA comes in and beats us up. They say our bills will scare business out of the state. A big expense for business is energy. CBIA lobbied for the deregulation of the electric energy bill; they got it passed and the cost of energy went up. If the de-reg bill hadn’t passed, businesses probably would have a more affordable electricity rate.”
CBIA’s Senior Vice President Joe Brennan was quick to respond.
Calling labor’s statements “ridiculous,” Brennan said CBIA’s ads stress “fiscal policy issues, health care issues, at times, labor issues. But, they’re always about making Connecticut a more attractive place to locate jobs.”
Brennan said when ads mention lost jobs the association tries to offer possible solutions.
“We talk about dealing with our state budget situation in a way that would avoid harmful tax increases,” he said. “Given the fiscal condition of the state we’re certainly not clamoring for tax cuts. That charge is completely off base.”
About deregulation, Brennan said the cost of the commodity has increased since the bill (Restructuring Connecticut’s Electric Industry) passed in 1998.
“Before the bill was passed we had high energy costs, the highest in the continental U.S.,” he said. “A lot has intervened in the past 12 years that have affected energy costs.”
Thursday, Olsen called on Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the state legislature to take action to fix the budget deficit and address the job crisis.
“The time is now — before it’s too late to reverse the damage of a downward spiraling economy,” he said. “It’s time to stop outsourcing jobs before the state loses its skilled workers.”
Olsen said Connecticut has one of the worst job-creation records in the country and called for manufacturing jobs, jobs for younger workers and construction jobs. He also called for a halt in the trend toward low-wage jobs which he said results in working families unable to make their mortgage payments.
“We want a recovery that works not just for [retired UTC Chairman] George David and his 65-million-dollar salary, but also for machinists at Pratt & Whitney — skilled and productive workers facing layoffs,” he said.
Olsen introduced legislation he said will get the state on the road to recovery by supporting green manufacturing and infrastructure jobs, taxing Wall Street bonuses, give 90-day notice for layoffs of 25 employees or more, and expand health care coverage for Connecticut families.
State Rep. Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, Southington, vice chairman of the House Commerce Committee, said the AFL-CIO is not only fighting for organized labor. “In this state, the AFL-CIO always wants to lift people up, not knock them down.”
Aresimowicz has argued for an outsourcing bill that has yet to pass.
“Why not reinvest Connecticut’s money in the state?” he asked. “Why do we consistently load goods in a shipping container and send them overseas?”
State Rep. John “Corky” Mazurek, D-Southington, Wolcott, said there’s nothing more important than job creation in the state.
“Unfortunately, we had to lose 94,000 jobs before we got every one on the same page,” he said. “We need to fund industries in the state like fuel cells and channel our design expertise toward green energy jobs vital to the future of Connecticut.”
The Yin and Yang of a global economy
Lori Pelletier noted the irony of green manufacturing.
“The clean energy fund gave out $70 million for installation of 1,100 solar panels; 70 percent of the hardware for those solar panels was made overseas,” she said. “Stimulus money — $2 million — was spent on windmills; sadly, 80 percent of the manufacture of the components was made overseas. Finally, $450 million was spent on a wind farm; though it created 300 construction jobs in West Texas it also created 2,000 manufacturing jobs in China.”
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