MomsRising Statement On the Seattle City Council Committee’s Passage Of the Paid Sick Days Ordinance
STATEMENT OF Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director, MomsRising.org, On the Seattle City Council Committee’s Passage Of the Paid Sick Days Ordinance
CONTACT: Gretchen Wright or Molly Tomlinson, 202/371-1999
August 11, 2011
Yesterday’s City Council committee vote is a hopeful sign for the nearly 200,000 Seattle workers who currently can’t take even a single paid sick day. MomsRising is proud to be an integral part of the effort to pass the paid sick days ordinance and we will continue to galvanize our members and their families and friends until the ordinance is signed by Mayor McGinn.
MomsRising and our Seattle members worked diligently to garner support for the paid sick days ordinance – sending in nearly 4,500 letters to City Councilmembers, testifying at hearings, speaking at Council and community events, and delivering to Councilmembers a book of stories about the importance of paid sick days to Seattle families.
Those stories, many of them frustrating and heartbreaking, highlight the reasons that every worker should have paid sick days.
We know there’s overwhelming public support for paid sick days. In fact, the majority of Democrats and Republicans support paid sick days, as do many savvy business owners. They know that not only do paid sick days policies keep their workers healthier and improve public health, they also increase worker loyalty and decrease the cost of having to hire and train new workers, as well as the costs associated with people spreading illnesses.
When people have paid sick leave, they can stay home if they’re ill and avoid spreading illness to their co-workers, and in some cases, to clients, customers and other members of the public. When parents have paid sick leave, they don’t have to send their children to school sick where they can infect other kids and teachers, or leave them at home where they’re unsupervised.
We all get sick. And when we’re worried about our kids’ health or our own health, we shouldn’t also have to worry about whether we can pay the rent or utility bills or if we’ll still have a job when we get better.
We will keep working with our partners in this effort, including: many Seattle businesses like Plum Bistro, Cupcake Royale, Tutta Bello, 5 Point Cafe, and more; and the more than 75 organizations that are part of the Seattle Coalition for a Healthy Workforce whose leadership includes Economic Opportunity Institute Puget Sound Sage, UFCW 21, Legal Voice, Washington CAN, Puget Sound Association for Retired Americans, MLK Labor Council, and the Washington State Labor Council. And we will not stop until Seattle has a paid sick days ordinance.
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MomsRising.org is an online and on-the-ground grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to achieve economic security for all families in the United States. MomsRising is working for paid family leave, flexible work options, affordable child care, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes so many mothers. MomsRising also advocates for health care for all, toxic-free environments, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. Established in 2006 and now celebrating its fifth anniversary, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families. In 2011, for the second year in a row, Forbes.com named MomsRising's web site as one of the Top 100 Websites For Women.
