50% of Americans Lack Sick Leave

by Leigh Graham · 2009-09-29 15:20:00 UTC
Topics: show more

With a vaccine for the H1N1 virus still some time away, the lack of paid sick leave for almost half of all working Americans in the private sector is a potential public health crisis.  Not only are these working adults likely to show up at work with potential infectious symptoms - or fear losing their job - they are likely to send sick kids to school for the same reason.  Why is this on the Poverty blog?

Nationwide, the same trend holds: The proportions of workers without paid leave are higher in lower-wage industries, including food service, nursing care, and retail workers.

These are the folks we interact with on a regular basis - the person handing you your coffee or your morning bagel; the woman coming to care for your already infirm grandmother in her home.

I'm so sick of the argument that basic government regulation that protects public health and minimizes worker exploitation is bad for small business.  I paraphrase a good corporate friend on Facebook - if you can't afford to pay your workers a living wage or benefits, you have a bad business model.  And I'll add: as anti-poverty and economic justice advocates, we'd be happy to work with you to fight for a more equitable business climate for your small company.

15 states and cities are currently working on paid sick leave bills.  Check them out and find out how you can support on-going campaigns.

Photo "Children with message in support of Paid Sick Days, Milwaukee - 2008" by Voces de La Frontera)

Leigh Graham
PREVIOUS STORY:
Action Alert: Tell Seattle to Stop the Sweeps!
NEXT STORY:
Sallie Mae Blinks!

COMMENTS (6)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.