On paper, Connecticut is economically thriving – jobs are at an all-time high with over 1.7 million positions in the state, as reported by the state Department of Labor (DOL). With over 5,000 jobs added for the month of January in various industries, as well as a projected surplus upwards of over $164.5 million for the Fiscal Year 2026, it’s a promising trajectory for our state and should demonstrate that Connecticut labor is as strong as it’s ever been. 

But while it’s true that from an economic standpoint Connecticut is doing well, I look to our workers —our everyday people— to truly determine how successful we are at meeting our residents’ needs. 

And right now, there are significant problems in our state that need to be addressed, from the well-known crisis in affordability to the seemingly intractable limits faced by many low-wage, hourly workers in scheduling and organizing that are so longstanding, they may seem invisible.  

But there are also problems that thousands of Connecticut workers face that we can easily tackle in this session. At the top of that list is the issue faced by contracted workers, most of them building cleaners, who regularly lose good jobs without any fair reason or fair warning.   

Throughout my life of advocating for safer, fair, and just workplaces, I am constantly met with the same recurring issue: new contractors who waltz in and completely usurp the status quo, terminating the jobs and upending the lives of workers who preceded them, no matter how long or how well they’d served the building’s occupants. Often, this happens once a building is sold or there is a transition in management, which results in the replacement of the building’s entire workforces.  

The people whose lives are upended are often parents, spouses, and caretakers who have performed the job for decades, workers with unmatchable institutional knowledge. Such abrupt terminations can also result in a loss of health insurance and other benefits, a psychological shock that is worsened by the turbulence of war, tripling inflation, and Connecticut’s already high cost of living. 

I’ve worked alongside several unions in Connecticut, as well as worked for a few myself prior to becoming state senator, and I have seen this shock issued by new contractors and building owners again and again. In 2024, I fought alongside 14 former custodians at ARKA group who were abruptly displaced when the company hired a nonunion contractor. It took over a year for many of these workers to get backpay for lost wages, and for some of them to return to their original postings.  

I’m seeing this again in Norwalk with the most recent grievance being handled by building service worker union 32BJ, part of the Service Employees International Union. Elsa Guerrero and Corina Palacio, two part-time workers who were recently let go by a new cleaning contractor who took over at 40 Richards Avenue in Norwalk.  

In the case of Elsa, in particular, the toll of losing her only source of income has been almost crippling. With her job, she was supporting a sister back home in Peru with a delicate health condition, and she is now left reeling, wondering how her sister will manage. For Corina, this was one of two part-time jobs she was working to make ends meet to support her and her child. However, with only one job now and daily expenses that keep adding up, the impact of her termination grows larger everyday. 

These are the real costs of companies terminating employees abruptly when taking over a new worksite.  

It is because of these situations that we’re urging the passage of effective, statewide worker’s retention laws in Connecticut, S.B. 358 and H.B. 5003. Both of these bills directly address this issue by protecting workers’ jobs for 90 days following a contractor change at their worksite, giving the worker time to find new work and the employer time to consider the value that worker brings to the worksite, without ending their right to ultimately hire whomever they choose.  

As it currently stands in Connecticut, workers employed by building-service contractors have no legal right to keep their jobs if their owner decides to replace the workforce. With proper worker’s retention laws in place, workers are given some agency. 

Connecticut would not be the first to establish such a framework; states like New Jersey, California, and Delaware share that honor. However, there has never been a more important time for a worker’s retention bill. 

We have an obligation as lawmakers do all that’s possible to support workers like Elsa and Corina by giving them access to a resource whose value is often incalculable –- time. 

State Sen. Julie Kushner of the 24th District is Deputy President Pro Tempore and represents Danbury and portions of New Fairfield and Ridgefield.