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Statement

Statement from Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRising.org, on President Obama’s initiative to support working families

January 15, 2015
Workplace Justice

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Moms Group Praises President Obama’s Initiatives on Working Families, Urges Congressional Action
“Today, President Obama took a tremendous step forward to update the antiquated policies that are hurting our economy, women, moms and working families all over America.
 
This step is also a major victory for the over one million MomsRising members across the nation who have sent letters, made calls, shared their stories, testified, met with leaders and the media, and made their voices heard on these win-win policies. In fact, access to paid leave after the birth of a baby and to sick days when you (or a child) falls ill are proven to boost our families and our economy.
 
Our labor force is now 50% women for the first time in history, and three-quarters of moms are now in the labor force (and half are primary breadwinners for their families), yet our public policies haven’t fully caught up with what modern women, working families, and our modern economy need to thrive. Plain and simple - No one should ever have to choose between going to work sick (and risk infecting coworkers and customers) or staying home and losing an invaluable day’s pay, or losing his or her job. Yet 80% of low-wage workers don’t have access to a single paid sick day in our nation.
 
Similarly, it is also a national embarrassment that over 177 countries provide some form of paid leave to new moms, but the US isn’t one of them. Even though the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed more than two decades ago, it only covers about half the country's workers and many who are covered by FMLA can't afford to use it because it's unpaid. Only 12% of people are now able to access paid family leave when a new baby arrives.
 
The President’s initiatives for working families, including his support for the Healthy Families Act, his plan to encourage states to create paid family leave programs, and his action to ensure that federal employees have access to paid leave when a new baby arrives or a medical emergency occurs are important steps in helping improve family economic security while strengthening our economy. We thank and salute President Obama for his commitment to helping our families and our economy be healthy and strong. Moms and their families around the country call on Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act this year.”
 

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, 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, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.