Working America Leads the Way in Washington to Save Family and Medical Leave

by James Parks, Mar 14, 2006

With anti-worker Bushites in Washington, D.C., possibly set to roll back workers’ hard-earned rights and benefits, Working America, the AFL-CIO’s million-member community affiliate, joined with activists in Washington State to take the offensive and win a major victory when the state Legislature passed a state family leave act.
 
Working America members generated 724 letters to state legislators supporting the bill, which Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) is set to sign tomorrow.
 
The state leave act is necessary because the Bush administration’s Labor Department recently has been threatening to gut the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a personal illness, the illness of a family member or to care for a new baby.
 
In the AFL-CIO Point of View guest column some months ago, former 9to5 National Association of Working Women Director Ellen Bravo wrote:

Since it was passed in 1993, an estimated 50 million workers have been able to care for a loved one or recover from illness without being fired. At the same time, nearly nine in 10 employers report that the FMLA has had a positive effect or neutral effect on productivity and profits.  

Concerned about possible changes that would dilute and limit FMLA, a broad coalition of unions, community activists and Working America members in Washington State began mobilizing last year to safeguard these hard-fought workplace protections through state legislation that would ensure the continuation of FMLA for workers and their families regardless of what action the federal government takes.
 
Working America members played a big part in the mobilization. From January 2006 to early March 2006, Working America members in Washington State canvassed door-to-door in strategically important legislative districts. They distributed 6,916 pieces of literature and recruited 2,863 Working America members, which in turn generated 724 letters to state legislators.
 
Fearing House Speaker Frank Chopp (D) would hold up passage of the bill, Working America activists in his district sent him 127 letters. Chopp ultimately voted for the bill, which passed the state House by a margin of 54–44, mostly along party lines. The bill had strong bipartisan support in the state Senate.
 

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