Hartford, CT – A lot of issues that affect the Connecticut workforce didn’t come up at the GOP debate on Wednesday night and the last time Mark Boughton was forced to take a stance on policies that help middle class workers like paid sick leave and the minimum wage, it was before the end of his second failed gubernatorial bid in 2014. Since we haven’t heard from him recently on these quality of life issues in Connecticut, we want to know where does Mark Boughton stand on issues that matter to residents across Connecticut?

• Back in 2010, Boughton told the AFL-CIO that he was not in favor of raising the minimum wage and told the crowd it was “something they needed to hear.” [Hartford Courant, 3/23/10] When he announced his run for Governor in 2016, Boughton said talking about raising the minimum wage to $15 “was the wrong discussion” and that we should focus on job training. Job training is an important for workers, but this does not answer if Mark Boughton supports raising the minimum wage.

• Mark Boughton has also said he wouldn’t support paid sick leave, saying “we cannot have the state Legislature pass anti-business legislation like the ‘captive audience’ bill and the ‘paid sick days for part time employees’ bill. As a state we must become business friendly, recognizing that a pro-business environment helps all of our residents.” [CT News.com Blog Post, 5/14/11]

• At the third GOP debate on Wednesday night, Boughton advocated to make changes to the SEBAC agreement, which is a binding 8 year contract. He said that might entail “putting rights and benefits in statute, instead of being negotiated.”

If not now, while prices continue to rise and wages have stagnated, when is the right time to talk about a higher minimum wage?

Lack of paid sick leave is shown to disproportionately affect low wage workers and paid sick leave is shown to boost productivity, why does Mark Boughton want these workers to feel forced to go to work sick for fear of losing their jobs?

Does Mark Boughton support collective-bargaining?

What rights and benefits for workers would Mark Boughton put into law after miraculously renegotiating SEBAC?

Would Mark Boughton turn Connecticut into a right-to-work state?

How would Mark Boughton negotiate with unions if he doesn’t want to give them a voice or negotiating power?

 

“Mark Boughton has been vague on his recent stances on workers’ issues, after being anti-worker as Mayor and as a gubernatorial candidate in 2014,” said Connecticut Democratic Party Communications Director Christina Polizzi. “Mark Boughton needs to let voters know what he would do for workers and workers issues as Governor of Connecticut. He cannot continue to dodge to questions on the minimum and make commitments he can’t keep on SEBAC. As a candidate for statewide office, it’s time for Mark Boughton to speak up and let voters know if he is going to continue to support anti-worker policies as he did as Mayor.”