Paid Family Leave

January 22, 2015

This February marks the twenty-second anniversary of President Clinton signing into law the Family and Medical Leave Act. More widely recognized by its abbreviation, the FMLA provides a bevy of protections to employees who are – or have family members who are – suffering from an illness. Perhaps...

MomsRising Together

R. Scott Oswald

Families & The Federal Budget Family Economic Security Paid Family Leave Paid Sick Days Politics & Policy

January 6, 2015

We’ve heard for months that the economy is improving, except for one stubborn problem: workers’ wages aren’t rising the way they should be in a recovery. Productivity goes up, corporate profits go up, CEO pay goes way up—but most working people’s paychecks are stuck. What we haven’t heard as much about is how we can raise wages. The economy is not like the weather—it doesn’t just happen to us, and we don’t have to just sit and wait for it to get better. The leaders we elect make the policy decisions that can fix the economy. Now it’s our job to put enough pressure on them until they actually do.

MomsRising Together

Liz Shuler

Childcare & Early Education Family Economic Security Open Flexible Work Paid Family Leave Paid Sick Days Politics & Policy

January 4, 2015

The second Friday before Christmas was like most of my days -- essentially -- but with some unique details. I was finishing up the update of my ebook, Lean On and Lead, Mothering and Work in the 21st Century Economy , so I was making edits and chasing after approvals from various interviewees in...

MomsRising Together

Shay Chan Hodges

Family Economic Security Paid Family Leave Paid Sick Days

November 24, 2014

Walmart. On one hand we have the Walton family—Walmart’s owners. With almost $150 billion in wealth, they are the richest family in the nation. On the other hand, we have Walmart workers, most of whom work for less than $25,000 a year. Most are women. And this Thanksgiving, more than 1 million of them have to go to work instead of spending the full day with their families.

MomsRising Together

Liz Shuler

Family Economic Security Paid Family Leave Paid Sick Days

November 20, 2014

It’s November – a month many associate with Thanksgiving, the day next week when families and friends across the country will come together to celebrate the things they’re grateful for. But November is also National Family Caregivers Month, and tens of millions of women and men in this country who...

MomsRising Together

Debra L. Ness

Paid Family Leave Paid Sick Days

November 20, 2014

In recognition of National Family Caregivers Month in November, the broad-based coalition of organizations pushing for the Family And Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act are rallying online to call attention to family caregivers’ need for supportive workplace polices like the national paid family and medical leave program the FAMILY Act would establish. The effort is being hosted by Family Values @ Work, MomsRising and the National Partnership for Women and Families.

MomsRising Together

Ruth Martin

Paid Family Leave Paid Sick Days

November 20, 2014

I am a woman of many skills and trades — I have been a school teacher, and served on the board of my school district’s union. I am a board member of 9to5 Atlanta. I am a Reverend, and like the Apostle Paul, who was a tentmaker to supplement his ministry income, nine years ago the Lord placed me in a job as a home caregiver. I was in total shock when I found out that, in such an important role as caregiver, I would only be making minimum wage, and receive no benefits.

MomsRising Together

Linda Meric

Paid Family Leave

November 20, 2014

Most people think of paid leave in the context of new parents who want to spend time with their newborn. But there’s another group of working people who need the support of paid family leave — and that’s caregivers.

MomsRising Together

Ai-jen Poo

Paid Family Leave

November 20, 2014

In the spring of 2006, I received two phone calls while away from home at a conference. The first call informed me that my mother of 92 years would require a second amputation. The second call informed me that my younger son, a senior in high school, had been diagnosed with non-hodgkin’s lymphoma…cancer.

MomsRising Together

Blue Carreker

Family Economic Security Paid Family Leave Politics & Policy

November 14, 2014

Tengo tres hijos. Los míos son un poco mayores que los de usted – la mayor se acaba de ir a la universidad – y por eso me necesitan un poco menos que su bebe la necesita a usted. Pero se bien el remordimiento que siente. Y le puedo asegurar que sus hijos no la culparan por trabajar y mantener un techo sobre sus cabezas.

MomsRising Together