News release
MomsRising.org Joins Connecticut Working Families, Unions Members and Paid Sick Days Advocates Deliver Apples to Legislators
April 2, 2008
Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996
“Apple-Grams” Urge Support of Paid Sick Days Legislation, SB 217
HARTFORD – Supporters of the EverybodyBenefits.org campaign for paid sick days gathered in the Legislative Office Building to hand-deliver apples bearing messages from Connecticut residents urging state legislators to pass legislation guaranteeing paid sick days (SB 217). Online grassroots and on-the-ground organization, MomsRising.org, helped coordinate the effort to generate the messages.
The “Apple-Grams” were delivered by members of Connecticut Working Families, ACORN, labor unions including the United Auto Workers, the Machinists, the UFCW, SEIU local 32BJ and CWA, MomsRising.org, faith-based organizations, women’s advocates and healthcare reformers.
“What good is health insurance if you can’t get a day off to go to the doctor?” said Sharon Paterson Stallings, president of Connecticut ACORN, and a co-chair of the Hartford area chapter of Connecticut Working Families. “Everybody gets sick sometimes, but not everybody can take the time to get better. It’s unhealthy and unfair.”
Over 40 percent of Connecticut workers do not receive a single paid sick day all year. Among low-wage workers and in the service industry, the number without paid sick days rises to as high as 75 percent. The Paid Sick Days bill (SB 217) would allow all workers at companies with 25 or more employees to earn one hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked; a full time worker would earn 6.5 sick days per year. This time could also be used in cases of domestic violence.
“Allowing people to take time off when they’re sick is just plain common sense,” said MomsRising.org Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. “This legislation would reduce the spread of disease and increase workers’ and therefore businesses’ productivity. It would also give Connecticut workers the time they need to recover from illness and to care for their families.”
If the legislation is enacted, Connecticut would be the first state in the nation to guarantee paid sick days. The city of San Francisco enacted a paid sick days law last year, and the Washington DC City Council recently passed a similar ordinance.
MomsRising.org is an online grassroots organization that is working for paid family leave, flexible work options, excellent childcare and healthcare for all children, and to stop the wage and hiring biases that penalize so many mothers today. MomsRising.org, has more than 130,000 members across the United States and 2,126 in Connecticut.
Connecticut Working Families is a coalition of community organizations, labor unions and neighborhood activists who united to fight for a fair economy. Working Families was formed to inject issues like healthcare, affordable housing, and livable wages and labor standards into the public debate, and to hold politicians accountable on those issues.