The Hartford Business Journal recently reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has published a report ranking states for business development based the existence of employee friendly laws.
The Chamber of Commerce believes that the more rights that employees have the worse it is for job growth. This is patently absurd and underestimates who we are as a state and as a nation.
Among other things, businesses tend to flourish when they have customers who can afford to buy their products. Employees who are paid a fair wage and are employed are just this type of customer.
Further, employees who are respected and treated fairly tend to be more productive, motivated, loyal and long lasting. There is simply no correlation, nor should there be, between an employers ability to discriminate and its economic strength.
The Chamber’s report does not actually link these concepts. Instead, it asks the reader to make this leap of faith based on flimsy evidence and statistics. It asks readers to blindly accept that what is bad for employees is good for business.
Connecticut should be proud of its labor and employment laws and its heritage of protecting employee rights. Businesses should not hestitate to do business here simply because they might be held accountable for discrimiation. If they do hestitate, I say, let them take their business somewhere else!