The Right to Call In Sick [View all]

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from In These Times:


The Right to Call In Sick
Portland joins a growing number of cities adopting paid sick leave ordinances.

BY Ellen Bravo

'I see employees run to the bathroom because they’re throwing up, but a manager doesn’t send them home.'

“I’ve gone to work horribly ill many times,” says Susan Lund, a grocery worker in Portland, Ore. “(Bosses) don’t care, as long as the work is being done. I see employees run to the bathroom because they’re throwing up, but a manager doesn’t send them home.”

That won’t be true for long. On March 13, thanks to the activism of thousands of Portlanders like Lund, the City Council unanimously voted to adopt a paid sick days ordinance. The bill goes into effect in January 2014.

Two weeks later, the New York City Council made a deal for a similar measure, guaranteeing paid sick days for 800,000 workers in firms of 20 employees or more, with job protection for those in smaller firms who have to take off for family illness. Together, the victories gave a big boost to the nationwide movement for paid sick leave. Portland and New York join a growing list of places—San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; Seattle; the state of Connecticut—where most workers are guaranteed a set number of paid days off for illness and hardships such as domestic or sexual violence. Similar campaigns are underway in a dozen other cities and states, including Oregon, Massachusetts and Vermont, and support is building for the Healthy Families Act, which would create a national standard.

In each location, the movement for paid sick days is backed by a broad coalition that includes dozens of partners from labor (including unions like UFCW and AFSCME, and Working America and the Working Families Party) together with small-business owners and groups that advocate for women, children, seniors, public health, racial justice and LGBT rights (Portland’s coalition is a member of the Family Values @ Work Consortium, a network of 21 state coalitions working for policies like paid sick days, of which I serve as executive director). But what’s most notable is how these groups have engaged new activists like Lund, who hadn’t been politically active before, but who share the common experience of fearing for their jobs if they or their child gets sick. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/14988/the_right_to_call_in_sick/