Public Supports Paid Sick Leave
 |
|
Three-quarters of Americans say paid sick leave should be a “basic workers’ right” and Congress should pass legislation that guarantees workers paid sick leave, according to a new survey by the Public Welfare Foundation (PWF).
PWF President Deborah Leff says the overwhelming support for paid sick leave legislation shows
that a majority of people in every racial group and every income level, every age group, every part of the country, both political parties see paid sick days as a basic worker right.
The Tea Party Isn’t Union Friendly
Here’s what a commenter posted recently at the AFL-CIO Now blog:
I am a progressive democrat, former member of three unions and my run was heavily funded by unions. I was beaten by a right-wing Republican because rank-and-file union members voted for my opponent.
And:
Until union members stop drooling over Glenn Beck and his ilk, unions will continue to be rendered impotent.
What was it the immortal Pogo said? “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Lack of Paid Sick Leave Sped Swine Flu Spread
In 2009, nearly 26 million workers were likely infected with the H1N1 (swine flu) virus. The spread of the virus may have been aided by lack of paid sick leave, which prompted more than 8 million of those workers to take no time off from work, according to a new study.
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) study, “Sick at Work: Infected Employees in the Workplace During the H1N1 Pandemic,” used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It found that workers in industries with no or poorly paid sick day coverage were the most likely to go to work while sick.
Nearly half of all private-sector workers—and 76 percent of low-income workers—have no paid sick leave. Many low-wage workers have jobs that require direct contact with the public, such as in the food service, hospitality and health care industries and in schools.
Senate Breaks Blockade on Labor Solicitor Nominee
The Senate just now voted (60-32) to end debate on the nomination of M. Patricia Smith, clearing her way for confirmation as solicitor of labor and breaking the stranglehold Republicans had put on her to be the nation’s top labor lawyer.
President Obama nominated Smith, currently New York state’s labor commissioner, nine months ago, but Republican obstructionist tactics blocked a vote on the nomination.
The solicitor of labor oversees enforcement of the nation’s most important labor laws and sets enforcement priorities. During her confirmation hearing last year, Smith said she would bring to the job a “philosophy of proactive enforcement.”
That would be quite a change from the previous administration, writes Pat Garafolo in Think Progress Wonk Room.
Under the Bush administration’s corporate-friendly Labor Department, the solicitor’s office sat on its hands and failed to enforce even the most flagrant labor violations.
Time to End Republican Blockade of Labor Nominee
Nine months ago, President Obama nominated New York State Labor Commissioner Patricia M. Smith to be solicitor of labor. Since then, Republican obstructionist tactics have blocked a vote on the nomination.
Today, the Senate is finally scheduled to vote on Smith’s nomination. But Republicans will attempt to block the vote with a filibuster that will take a 60-vote cloture motion to overcome.
In a letter to Senate members, AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director William Samuel says:
At a time when workers are bearing the brunt of the economic recession and violations of workplace rights are rampant, the Labor Department needs a solicitor with Ms. Smith’s commitment to strong, fair, and effective enforcement of our workplace laws. We urge you to support Ms. Smith for this critically important position, and to vote for cloture.
Massachusetts Working Families Gearing Up GOTV for Coakley
 |
||||
|
||||
Working families in Massachusetts are mobilizing for a huge get-out-the-working family-vote drive for Tuesday’s special U.S. Senate election where Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is running for the seat left vacant by Sen. Edward Kennedy’s death last year.
As Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, says, “This election has been all about working families.”
Martha Coakley has a proven record of fighting for working families, including vigilantly enforced prevailing wage, overtime, employee misclassification, and independent contractor enforcement laws in order to ensure that an honest day’s work would result in a fair paycheck with real benefits.
Paid Leave Key to Slowing Spread of H1N1
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one worker sick with the H1N1 (swine flu) virus will infect one in 10 co-workers if he or she goes to work while infected with the virus. Even more frightening, another recent study predicted that 63 percent of Americans will be infected with the virus by the end of December.
Today, family advocates and heath care professionals told the House Education and Labor Committee that along with vaccinations, and good hygiene practices, the best way to protect workers and slow the spread of the H1N1 virus is through guaranteed paid sick leave legislation, such as the Healthy Families Act.
The CDC’s guidelines to employers and workers to slow the spread of the virus says workers who suspect they have the swine flu or another influenza-like illness should stay home and employers should allow workers to stay home “without fear of reprisals or…losing their jobs.”
Caroline Kennedy Urges Workers to Complete Ted Kennedy’s Dream
Caroline Kennedy today challenged delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention to fight for and achieve the causes to which her uncle, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, dedicated his life—health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act.
After thanking union members for their “tremendous outpouring of support following Sen. Kennedy’s death, she said her uncle succeeded because he cared about people and “no one held a dearer place in his heart than the labor movement.
He believed every worker deserved to be treated fairly. Day after day uncle Teddy stood with labor because it was the right thing to do.
Sen. Kennedy and retiring AFL-CIO President John Sweeney worked hard throughout their lives to help working people, and now the next generation must find ways to meet the challenges working people face with the same determination and tenacity displayed by her uncle and Sweeney, she said.
It’s time to build a new economy that puts the needs of working families first, that ensures each and every worker has a voice on the job and pass the Employee Free Choice Act and guarantee quality health care for every man, woman and child.
Obama to Address AFL-CIO Convention
 |
|
President Barack Obama will address our AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh on Sept. 15, marking a major shift in the relationship between the union movement and the White House. For the past eight years, the Bush administration waged war on America’s workers, and union members took a big step toward taking back America by playing a major role in electing Obama and a Democrat-controlled Congress.
Obama will address a convention that will make history by electing a new leadership team. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is retiring after 14 years at the helm.
Along with Obama, the Sept. 13-17 convention will hear from many prominent political and union leaders, including Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Caroline Kennedy and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous.
AFSCME Highway to Health Care Ends Tour, Fight for Reform Gears Up
 |
||||
|
||||
Health care reform, embodied in the Senate bill crafted by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and H.R. 3200 in the House, will give patients the care they need when they need it and allow doctors the opportunity to provide that care, says Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, president-elect of the National Physicians Alliance.
Arkoosh told a crowd of nearly 300 in front of the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., celebrating the last stop of AFSCME’s Highway to Health Care Reform tour:
Sen. Kennedy’s and the House bill will give our patients the peace of mind that the health care they need will be there when they need it. As a doctor, it means it will be easier for me to take care of my patients…spend more time in the exam room listening to them instead of fighting on the phone with the insurance companies.
