Washington Work and Family Coalition

The WA Family Leave Coalition congratulates the Seattle Coalition on passing paid sick days!

On September 23, 2011, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn signed the Seattle Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance into law following an 8 to 1 vote by the City Council. The campaign by the Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce generated wide earned media coverage and more e-mails and phone calls to Council members than any issue in memory. Public hearings and forums were packed. Workers, small business owners, and school nurses who rarely have a say in policymaking became key spokespeople, making a compelling case that paid sick days standards are necessary to protect public health and rebuild family economic security.

Mayor-Paid-Sick-03-sm — Photo: Jen Nance

The Washington Family Leave Coalition, coordinated by the Economic Opportunity Institute, helped launch the Seattle campaign in the aftermath of the H1N1 epidemic. For over a decade, the statewide Coalition has brought together seniors, women, labor unions, health professionals, children’s advocates, faith communities, low income workers, employers, and policy makers.

The Coalition has successfully advocated for state-wide legislation that allows workers with paid leave to use it to care for sick family members, and that lays the foundation for a family and medical leave insurance program for all workers. We’re working together to make it easier for parents to raise healthy children and care for aging parents; for workers to care for themselves or family members during serious illnesses; and to establish modern workplace standards that improve productivity and worker health.

Seattle Mayor Signs Landmark Paid Sick Days Legislation

From the Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce:

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn signed landmark city legislation into law today, ensuring that hundreds of thousands of people working in Seattle will be able to earn paid sick days on the job. When the new law takes effect next September, an estimated 150,000 workers who previously did not earn paid sick days will start to accrue them; thousands more workers will be able earn additional paid sick days and have additional flexibility for using them.

Over 100 local organizations and small businesses endorsed the paid sick days proposal, and thousands of Seattle workers called, emailed and turned out in support – a groundswell of support that eventually led to passage by the City Council on September 12th by an 8-1 vote.

“This is a major victory for everyone who works, shops and eats in the City of Seattle,” said Marilyn Watkins, spokesperson for the Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce. “By allowing people to stay at home to care for themselves or a sick family member we help prevent the spread of disease and begin rebuilding family economic security and a healthy economy. Seattle’s leadership will fuel momentum for enacting paid sick days throughout the nation.”

The coalition applauded Council members Nick Licata and Tim Burgess in particular for their leadership in forging consensus among their colleagues for a strong ordinance that will protect workers, safeguard public health and support healthy businesses.

For his part, Licata credited the Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce for moving the issue forward: “I chose to sponsor this bill, not only because it was the right thing to do, but because I believed that this was a coalition that would get the job done. A robust coalition of workers, employers, health care professionals, moms, and social justice activists is a coalition that just can’t be beat!”

The bill signing took place at Plum Bistro Restaurant, owned by Makini Howell, one of the first small business owners to support the proposed ordinance. “Over the last year, I joined with a group of small business owners to work alongside with public health professionals, labor unions, community groups, and elected leaders to craft this law. By collaborating and working together, we produced a law that protects the health of our customers, increases the economic security of employees, provides flexibility for small businesses, and strengthens the economy,” said Howell.

Seattle joins San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and the state of Connecticut in establishing a minimum paid sick days standard. Voters in Denver will consider a paid sick days ballot measure this November, and active campaigns are underway in other cities and states.

More than 75 organizations comprise the Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce, whose leadership includes Economic Opportunity Institute, MomsRising, Puget Sound Sage, UFCW 21, Legal Voice, Washington CAN, Puget Sound Association for Retired Americans, M.L. King County Labor Council, and the Washington State Labor Council.

Lack of paid sick leave shortchanges rural workers

From the Carsey Institute:

Rural workers have less access to sick leave, forcing them to choose between caring for themselves or family members, and losing pay or perhaps even their jobs when faced with an illness, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

“Paid sick days are a central component of job flexibility for rural and urban workers alike. Everyone gets sick, and the lack of paid sick days can place workers in a bind, especially given that workers who lack paid sick days are also more likely to lack other paid leave options, such as vacation days,” said Kristin Smith, family demographer at the Carsey Institute and research assistant professor of sociology.

Smith and Andrew Schaefer, a research assistant at the Carsey Institute, found that 44 percent of rural workers lack access to paid sick days. In contrast, 34 percent of suburban and 38 percent of central-city workers have fewer than five paid sick days each year. Likewise, a higher proportion of rural than urban working parents lacks access to at least five days off to care for a sick child without losing pay or having to use vacation time. The proportions without coverage drop somewhat when only full-time workers are included, but the general pattern of a rural disadvantage remains.