California’s Paid Family Leave Law Is Working, New Study Finds
California’s paid family leave law “has been remarkably successful” and received high marks from both employers and workers, according to a new study released yesterday by researchers from UCLA/City University of New York (CUNY) and the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
Study co-author Ruth Milkman, a professor of sociology at UCLA and the CUNY, says the law, one of just two paid family leave laws in the nation,
has helped hundreds of thousands of workers—especially in low-wage jobs—balance the costs and challenges of tending to family and work and it has begun to close the gap in access to paid leave benefits.
New Jersey is the only other state with a paid family leave law.
The business community vigorously fought against the now six-year-old law, claiming it would be costly and easily abused. But paid family leave has disproved opponents’ claims that the program would be a “job killer,” says Eileen Applebaum, the other co-author and senior economist at CEPR.
House Republicans Block Medical Help for 9/11 Heroes
House Republicans last night blocked a bill that would provide long-term medical care and monitoring for the nearly 60,000 Sept. 11 rescue and recovery workers and community members whose health is at serious risk from their exposure to the contaminated and toxic rubble at Ground Zero of the World Trade Center.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the vote a deep disappointment and said:
Helping the thousands of 9/11 responders and others who are now sick as a result of their exposures at the World Trade Center should not be a partisan issue. But sadly, the majority of House Republicans voted against this bill.
The 255-159 vote in favor of the bill included 12 Republicans. But because the bill was on what is known as the suspension calendar used for non-controversial bills, it needed a two-thirds majority to pass. What’s controversial about helping Sept. 11 heroes who faced a toxic mix of chemicals, jet fuel, asbestos, lead, glass fragments and other debris?
Check Out Our New Employee Free Choice Act Site
 |
|
In the fight to turn around America and rebuild an economy that works for everyone, it’s critical to empower people in their communities and workplaces. Unfortunately, the freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life-a basic human right-is under threat. We need to restore the freedom to form unions and protect workers by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.
The campaign to pass the legislation is the top priority of the union movement and a wide variety of allies, who understand that expanding the freedom to form unions not only will improve the lives of individual workers but also build progressive political power across the country. Union members are more likely to vote and get engaged in the political process, and a strong, mobilized union vote helped elect pro-worker candidates in close races across the nation in November.
