Share the Health

Last Thursday Atlanta 9to5 members, staff and interns headed to the health care rally at the Georgia state capitol building to stand with Americans across the country in favor of health care coverage for all. There was lots of chanting and cheering among the crowd of over 700 supporters (What do we want? HEALTH CARE! When do we want it? NOW!) as well as some very creative poster messaging (Share the Health! and Can I trade in Chambliss and Isakson in for Clunkers and Collect $4,500? were our favorites). Two 9to5 chapter Board members Gloria Smith and Claudia Lewis were also at the rally showing their support and wearing 9to5 T-shirts. As the President speaks to Congress this evening about passing health care legislation, 9to5 members need to remind their Congressional Representatives and Senators that affordable health coverage is an essential need for working women and their families.

Check out these photos of 9to5 at the rally and some of the more creative posters we saw.

Work/Family Support Committee meeting!

When?
Sunday, July 12
4-5:30 pm

Where?
Tah Cha Tea House
3352C Chamblee-Tucker Road
Here's a map!

What?
Come join this 9to5 member committee as we discuss current legislative campaign in support of the Healthy Families Act and brainstorm strategies to build awareness about workplace oppression and the need to build a national movement to gain equitable work standards for all working adults.


See you there!

PS: Here's a link to Tah Cha's website.

Also, shout-out to Moms Rising: Read this blog post about the Healthy Families Act before the meeting!

This 4th of July, Support the Healthy Families Act!

For most Americans, the Fourth of July is a day for fireworks, concerts, parades and all manner of patriotic displays. It’s as American as barbeque ribs and apple pie, reminding us of freedom, justice, community, hard work and family values; the shared ideals that define us as a nation.

We don’t need a holiday or special celebration to honor working families. But we all occasionally need time off from work to share the responsibility for our family’s health. Still, the Fourth of July is a perfect time to contact our leaders in Congress and ask that they celebrate our national values of family and work by supporting the Healthy Families Act (HFA).

On May 18, Rep Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) introduced the Healthy Families Act to the 111th Congress. HFA is designed to allow Americans to earn paid sick time so that they can take care of their own and their family’s health needs. Care-giving responsibilities can be one of the biggest hurdles working families face in their quest to realize the American dream of economic self-sufficiency. But nearly 60 million American workers lack a single paid sick day in which to care for themselves when occasional illness strikes. Nearly 100 million lack a paid sick day to care for an ill child.

For these Americans, the lack of this basic labor standard presents unconscionable choices: whether to go to stay home and get better or go to work to keep from losing a job. On this Fourth of July holiday – and beyond -- there is lots of work to do to make work, well, work. Click here to learn more about the Healthy Families Act. Share the information with your family, friends, co-workers, community members. Urge them to take action today by contacting their members of Congress to insure that they support the Healthy Families Act.

While we’re waving our flag this July 4th, let’s really honor all Americans by moving toward passage of the Healthy Families Act.

We're in the News -- Please Take Action!

The editorial in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution was written by none other than 9to5's executive director, Linda Meric!

Stay home sick? Not an option for many workers

In light of the outbreak of swine flu virus in Mexico — and the 3,352 confirmed cases, so far, in the United States — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that “to stay healthy” people should cover their mouths with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, wash their hands more often and avoid touching their eyes, mouth or nose.

The CDC also recommends that if you feel sick, you should stay home from work, limiting contact with others to keep from infecting them.

It’s that final recommendation that might prove the fatal flaw in health education efforts designed to avoid a swine flu pandemic in the United States.

Many American workers who feel ill can’t stay home from work.

They must go to work anyway because so many — 57 million workers to be precise — don’t have a single paid sick day.

Especially in this dismal economy, most workers cannot afford to help protect the public health by staying home when they are sick because doing so might mean that they lose a day’s pay, or even worse, their jobs.

Low-wage workers are the least likely workers to have jobs that allow them to earn paid sick days.

What does this mean for an America in fear of a pandemic flu virus?

It means restaurants, child care centers, nursing homes, hotels, public transit systems, schools and offices across the country could potentially be full of infected workers, who should be home in bed or at the doctor’s getting treatment, but will be on the job instead.

It means that instead of containing and minimizing public health risks, we’ll be maximizing them. It means many sick workers could be making other workers — and the public — sick.

Coming to work sick doesn’t help employers either. Workers who must report to work when they are ill are less productive. They don’t save money for business; they add to the costs of doing business.

The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that has no state or federal law requiring paid sick days. As a result, half the work force has none.

In addition, 100 million workers lack a single paid sick day they can use to care for an ill child, spouse or parent. Not only do we lack a federal sick leave policy, San Francisco, the District of Columbia and Milwaukee are the only cities that require employers to provide paid sick days for all workers.

Most Americans, though, believe paid sick days should be a basic right guaranteed by law.

Public opinion polls show that a majority consistently list paid sick days as “very important.”

Allowing workers to take short breaks from their jobs when their health, or the health of their families, demands it made sense to nearly 90 percent of people polled in 2007.

This basic labor standard is feasible, affordable and is good public and workplace policy.

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) are expected to reintroduce the Healthy Families Act in Congress this month.

It would allow workers to earn up to seven paid sick days a year to care for themselves or their families.

Women’s, labor, education, community and other organizations all support this proposal.

Maybe this swine flu scare, along with the voices of the American people, will move our Congress to action.

To fight the spread of disease and ensure the public health, a basic labor standard for paid sick days is the remedy.

See the original article online here.


We're really excited about this local publicity around a nationwide Paid Sick Days campaign, but now we need YOU to take action! We'd love it if you could write a letter to the editor, expressing support for paid sick days as a basic labor standard. You can send an email to the AJC editorial board here.

Note: If you're interested in writing, but unsure of what to say, check out the National Partnership for Women & Families Support Paid Sick Days page.

Prevent a Swine Flu Pandemic by Supporting Paid Sick Days Nationwide!

Hello, Atlanta 9to5 members!

I'm writing this from Washington DC (if I turned around, I could literally see the Capitol building out the hotel window!), where nearly 50 members and staff of 9to5 have come together for our 2009 Annual Leadership Conference. Tomorrow, we'll be going to Capitol Hill to meet with our Senators and Representatives, asking them to support family-friendly workplace policies, like the Healthy Families Act.

The Healthy Families Act, which would give workers nationwide seven paid sick days each year, has always been an important bill. But now, with our nation facing a potentially pandemic flu, we are in a unique position to ask our legislators to support this bill. President Obama, hoping to stop the spread of the swine flu, has been joined by governors and mayors across the country urging parents to keep their kids out of school if they become ill, and to stay home from work if they themselves feel sick. However, without paid sick days, many working moms and dads cannot afford to take time off work to care for their sick children or to stay in bed for a day or two while they regain their own health.

Even if you are not in Washington with us, you can still let your Congressmen and women know that you support the Healthy Families Act! Read 9to5's press release on the Swine Flu and the Healthy Families Act here. Then, send a letter to your US Representative, asking that he or she co-sponsor the Healthy Families Act. That letter can be found online here.

Thanks for taking action, and I'll see you back in Atlanta next week!

For Work-Family Flexibility, the Time is Now

By Linda Meric

In the workplace of the future, the words "work" and "family" will be connected by more than the obligatory hyphen.

In the workplace of the future, workers who are sick will have paid sick days so they can stay home for a day or two and take care of themselves - without fearing they will lose a day's pay, or worse, their jobs.

In the workplace of the future, working parents won't have to miss their child's big part in the school play or forfeit the chance for an important parent-teacher conference -- they'll have parental leave that will allow them to both do their jobs AND be good parents by being involved in their children's school activities.

In the workplace of the future, more workers will be able to utilize the provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act for more reasons - and it will be affordable for them.

In the future, work-family flexibility will be more than something that we're working toward - it will be a reality.

Why is it important? Consider the case of Sherry Johnson, a Milwaukee grandmother and career data entry operator. Sherry began to have problems with her eyes and her doctor recommended eye surgery. She informed her employer, underwent the surgery, and let her employer know that she would have to take time to recover. After the recovery period, she called her employer again to inform them that she was ready to return to work. But rather than welcoming her back, she was fired. Her supervisor said it was because she took the time off for the surgery. Sherry tells her story (view it online here) because she wants her grandchildren to grow up in a future world where families are truly respected and all people are treated with dignity.

What happened to her is appalling. Even more appalling are these statistics: more than 57 million workers do not have a single paid sick day in which to take care of themselves in times of illness and more than 100 million workers don't have a paid sick day in which they can stay home and care for a sick child. Those least likely to have paid sick days are those who can least afford to lose their jobs: working women who head households and struggle mightily to make the dual demands of work and home work for both their employers and their families.

But pushing toward a future where flexible work-family policy is more than just a dream is about more than economic justice for women and their families. It's also a matter of public health, because child care, nursing home, restaurant and other workers who must go to work sick can make the rest of us sick. It's also a business issue because research has shown that those workplaces that offer flexibility to their workers are more profitable and have employees who are more productive. For all those reasons, paid sick days must be among the key policies that set the tone for the workplace of the future.

What are we doing to build a future of economic justice?

Paid sick days policies have already been enacted in San Francisco and the District of Columbia. And, this past November, the Milwaukee Chapter of 9to5, National Association of Working Women led the campaign that won paid sick days for every worker in the city of Milwaukee. Nearly 70 percent of the voters said "yes" to the paid sick days referendum but now the business community has decided to fight the voice of the people. Now, we'll have to wait ‘til at least May for a judge to uphold the voice of the people and the democratic process. We are confident that the paid sick days vote will stand.

The broad coalition that joined with 9to5 to win paid sick days has recommitted to the ideals of the workplace of the future. Activists in North Carolina, Massachusetts and California continue to fight toward a future where every worker has the right to take care of themselves and their families without jeopardizing their jobs. 9to5 members across the country are sharing their personal experiences through letters and meetings with elected officials and the media, speaking to other groups, and participating in local coalition activities that push toward a future reality. The Healthy Families Act, federal legislation that would guarantee that every worker has paid sick days, is on the table and more important than ever. Contact your US Senators NOW and urge them to support the HFA.

How long will we wait for a future with work-family flexibility?

We who believe in economic justice believe the time is NOW. To join with us, call our the 9to5 Helpline at 1-800-522-0925, email us at activist@9to5.org, or visit our website, www.9to5.org for more ideas.

Meric is Executive Director, 9to5, National Association of Working Women

This blog post was originally seen on blogher.com as part of fem2.0's blog carnival about women and work. View the original entry here.