Family Economic Security

Paid Sick Days Immigration Family Economic Security

April 24, 2013

As one of 11 kids in a migrant farm worker family, I toiled in the fields of California’s Central Valley under the bleakest of conditions in the 1950s and ‘60s, before Cesar Chavez’s movement offered us any relief. Getting sick or injured or showing symptoms of pesticide poisoning were not options...

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Maria Elena Durazo

Paid Sick Days Family Economic Security

April 24, 2013

"We must move beyond advocating for earned paid sick days, to implementing a culture of self-care in our movement. The lip service that is paid to self-care is not enough, and change can only occur if we take a people-first approach to our work." In March, the Generational Alliance brought together...

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Carmen Berkley

Paid Sick Days Family Economic Security

April 24, 2013

My name is Luz Amelia Arevalo, I am a professional domestic worker in Los Angeles California. Because of economic necessity, my own family -- my own grandchildren -- are far away. I care for the children of my employers, and I grow to love them as I do my own grandchildren. There are many women...

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Luz Amelia Arevalo

Paid Sick Days Family Economic Security

April 24, 2013

The year after I graduated from college I waited tables and worked in retail, just like my parents always wanted. Kidding! Truth be told, I had always envisioned going to law school but hesitated once it came time to send in a deposit. I hadn’t given much thought to the other options I had, and the...

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Madeline Shepherd

Paid Sick Days Family Economic Security

April 24, 2013

For nearly a year, Ariel Kempf was a server at a very busy breakfast and lunch café in Portland when, one day, while playing with her dog on the beach, she tore several tendons in her right leg. She had no health insurance, so she went to an urgent-care clinic where she was told she couldn’t put...

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Tara Murphy

Paid Sick Days Family Economic Security

April 24, 2013

This article originally appeared in the Huffington Post . Patricia, a home health care aide and 9to5 member from Colorado, attended to a man who is quadriplegic. When Patricia came down with food poisoning, her life unraveled. Her condition progressed to pneumonia caused from the vomit that spilled...

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Linda Meric

Paid Sick Days Family Economic Security

April 24, 2013

This article originally appeared in Family Values @ Work . Home rule – guaranteed under the Florida state constitution — is a cherished conservative principle. It ensures the right of the people to determine and implement a public purpose at the grassroots level. So when is home rule not okay with...

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Ellen Bravo

Paid Sick Days Family Economic Security

April 24, 2013

This blog post originally appeared in Direct Care Alliance, Inc. . I’m the president and CEO of Catalina In-Home Services in Tucson, Arizona. We offer personal care and support services. Our clients are all private pay. We have about 65 caregivers, who we call professional direct care workers. They...

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Judy Clinco

Paid Sick Days Family Economic Security

April 24, 2013

This blog post originally appeared in Direct Care Alliance . I have been a direct care worker for about 10 years. I truly believe we make a difference in the lives of elders and the sick. I love my work and I get paid well for it, but I don’t get paid sick time or paid holidays. I came here from...

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Gabriele Swe

Immigration Family Economic Security

April 10, 2013

Photo by Cindia Cameron, 9to5 Immigrants come to the U. S. today for the same reason immigrants have always come here – for the promise of freedom and a better life that is America. We have built our country on the belief that we achieve greatness as a nation when all of us have a fair chance at...

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Linda Meric