SNN: Work Hard on Sick Time

SOMERVILLE, Mass. – Across Somerville and other Massachusetts communities, labor and community activists, mothers and fathers are knocking on doors and ringing bells, trying to convince their neighbors to vote “Yes” on Question 4 on Election Day.

Question 4 – “Earned Sick Time for Employees” – would guarantee that all workers in the state, public and private sector, can earn and use sick time. Workers would “earn” one hour for every 30 hours worked, and could earn and use up to 40 hours per year. Workers at smaller firms would earn unpaid sick time, while those at firms employing 11 or more people would earn paid sick time.

Francisca Duarte, who works at the Somerville Visiting Nurses Association, recently spent a Saturday talking to neighbors and putting pamphlets in mailboxes.

“We are working on this because… we think it’s a good thing to do,” Duarte told Somerville Neighborhood news. “A lot of people don’t have sick time.”

Duarte is one of dozens of volunteers in the city who are canvassing in an effort being organized across the state by the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition.

According to state Senator Dan Wolf (D-Harwich) and Representative Kay Khan (D-Newton), sponsors of a bill on sick leave (which did not pass) during the previous legislative session, nearly one million workers in the state do not have any access to any kind of sick time at all. This leads ill workers to go to work and infect others, or it can result in workers losing their jobs because they have stayed home sick or to care for family members.

A 2010 poll of workers by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center found that “nearly one in four workers (23%) report that they have been fired, suspended, punished or threatened with being fired for taking time off due to personal illness or to care for a sick relative,” the lawmakers said in a document circulated earlier this year.

Duarte and Karen Narefsky, of the Somerville Community Corporation, visited dozens of homes on sunny afternoon, including one where Alex Weck, a resident of Somerville for over seven years, sat on his porch chopping vegetables.

Weck said he would vote “yes.”

“I support workers rights,” Weck said. “I think that it’s an important thing that Massachusetts continues to be a leader on this topic because clearly the U.S. federal government is not doing anything on anything, so state governments are more important now than they have ever been before.”

In fact, the U.S. is one of the few countries in Europe and the Americas that does not have a national law guaranteeing sick time, according to Think Progress. Perhaps not coincidentally, there are campaigns underway in cities and in almost half of the country’s states to get local or state sick leave laws passed.

On Sept. 1, the California legislature voted in favor of a paid sick leave law, making it the second state, after Connecticut, to mandate sick time. Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign it this month. A half dozen cities, including New York, Portland, Ore., San Diego, Seattle and Washington, have also passed laws, and about a dozen others are considering legislation.

The Retailers Association of Massachusetts opposes Question 4, saying it would “be costly to small businesses and taxpayers.” The trade group claim says that businesses with mandatory staffing levels would have to “pay twice, once to the employee on leave and a second time to the employee working the shift.”

But other organizations – like the National Partnership for Women and Families – say paid sick time would reduce the spread of illnesses, and also save businesses money.

“It’s important for everybody,” Duarte said as she headed up another street. “You work to survive. If you don’t get paid, if you get sick for a week, and you don’t get paid, how are you going to take care of your family and pay your bills? I think it’s very important, everyone should vote for it.”Somerville, MA, Sept. 9, 2014 – Across Somerville and other Massachusetts communities, labor and community activists, mothers and fathers are knocking on doors and ringing bells, trying to convince their neighbors to vote “Yes” on Question 4 on Election Day.

Question 4 – “Earned Sick Time for Employees” – would guarantee that all workers in the state, public and private sector, can earn and use sick time. Workers would “earn” one hour for every 30 hours worked, and could earn and use up to 40 hours per year. Workers at smaller firms would earn unpaid sick time, while those at firms employing 11 or more people would earn paid sick time.

Francisca Duarte, who works at the Somerville Visiting Nurses Association, recently spent a Saturday talking to neighbors and putting pamphlets in mailboxes.

“We are working on this because… we think it’s a good thing to do,” Duarte told Somerville Neighborhood news. “A lot of people don’t have sick time.”

Duarte is one of dozens of volunteers in the city who are canvassing in an effort being organized across the state by the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition.

According to state Senator Dan Wolf (D-Harwich) and Representative Kay Khan (D-Newton), sponsors of a bill on sick leave (which did not pass) during the previous legislative session, nearly one million workers in the state do not have any access to any kind of sick time at all. This leads ill workers to go to work and infect others, or it can result in workers losing their jobs because they have stayed home sick or to care for family members.

A 2010 poll of workers by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center found that “nearly one in four workers (23%) report that they have been fired, suspended, punished or threatened with being fired for taking time off due to personal illness or to care for a sick relative,” the lawmakers said in a document circulated earlier this year.

Duarte and Karen Narefsky, of the Somerville Community Corporation, visited dozens of homes on sunny afternoon, including one where Alex Weck, a resident of Somerville for over seven years, sat on his porch chopping vegetables.

Weck said he would vote “yes.”

“I support workers rights,” Weck said. “I think that it’s an important thing that Massachusetts continues to be a leader on this topic because clearly the U.S. federal government is not doing anything on anything, so state governments are more important now than they have ever been before.”

In fact, the U.S. is one of the few countries in Europe and the Americas that does not have a national law guaranteeing sick time, according to Think Progress. Perhaps not coincidentally, there are campaigns underway in cities and in almost half of the country’s states to get local or state sick leave laws passed.

On Sept. 1, the California legislature voted in favor of a paid sick leave law, making it the second state, after Connecticut, to mandate sick time. Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign it this month. A half dozen cities, including New York, Portland, Ore., San Diego, Seattle and Washington, have also passed laws, and about a dozen others are considering legislation.

The Retailers Association of Massachusetts opposes Question 4, saying it would “be costly to small businesses and taxpayers.” The trade group claim says that businesses with mandatory staffing levels would have to “pay twice, once to the employee on leave and a second time to the employee working the shift.”

But other organizations – like the National Partnership for Women and Families – say paid sick time would reduce the spread of illnesses, and also save businesses money.

“It’s important for everybody,” Duarte said as she headed up another street. “You work to survive. If you don’t get paid, if you get sick for a week, and you don’t get paid, how are you going to take care of your family and pay your bills? I think it’s very important, everyone should vote for it.”