CT Good Jobs for All Coalition Pushes for Full Employment Legislation in CT

by Frank Panzarella, CT Good Jobs for All Coalition

Activists and labor supporters around the country are once again working to create new full-employment legislation. I hope you all might find time to join in this effort in Connecticut.

Sen. Gary Winfield introduced SB 151, An Act Establishing a Full Employment Trust Fund, to the Labor and Public Employees Committee. The public hearing was held on Feb. 23.

Problem: Across the country, Americans have been struggling due to increased inflation, declining value of wages, and unemployment. As of October 2022, 81,406 Connecticut residents were unemployed.

Solution: SB 151, An Act Establishing a Full Employment Trust Fund. The purpose of this bill is to create a full employment trust fund that will create employment opportunities, job training programs, and recession-proof job creation in the following fields:

Green Jobs:

  • Renewable energy includes creating, installing, funding
    solar and wind power.
  • Mass transportation includes creating, manufacturing,
    operating sustainable vehicles (cars, buses, trains). New
    mass transit infrastructure in the form of additional bus
    routes, railways and train stations across the state.
  • Waste management: coordinating and collecting recycling.
    Care work training programs:
  • Childcare – training programs for childcare providers
  • Elder care – training programs to create jobs for home health aides, nursing home workers
    Housing:
  • Housing rehabilitation
  • Green housing construction

Please contact your state senator and representative and ask them to support this bill. In addition, help spread the word by letting others know. A sample email is below:

Dear ____,

The state legislature has introduced Bill SB 151 that could help establish guaranteed full employment in Connecticut. The bill aims to establish a full employment trust fund that would be used to create job training programs, employment opportunities, and workforce housing.

The Connecticut Jobs and Human Rights Taskforce needs your help! The bill was referred to the Labor and Public Employees Committee, which heard testimony Feb. 23. Please contact your state senator and representative, and let them know you support this bill.

Thank you.

Your Name
Address
Phone number
Email address

Report Offers 44 Routes to Affordable Housing

The Affordable Housing Task Force has released its final 21-page report in preparation for a vote on Thursday, Jan. 24.

The report proposes 44 different recommendations for how the city and the Board of Alders can best address New Haven’s affordable housing crisis.

Click here to download a copy of the report.

The housing panel, which the Board of Alders created in March 2018 after a public debate about the conversion of the Hotel Duncan and the loss of Single Room Occupancy (SRO) dwellings downtown, convened six public meetings between June 2018 and January 2019.

At the most recent meeting, the group previewed some of the recommendations detailed in the final report, which the body will vote on on Thursday, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chambers on the second floor of City Hall before delivering the report to the Board of Alders to review and draft legislation around.

Read the whole story here in the New Haven Independent: Report Offers 44 Routes To Affordable Housing | New Haven Independent