We were recently in Washington, DC representing Oregon at the National Summit on Paid Sick Days and Paid Family Leave, a productive event hosted by two of our strong national partners: the National Partnership for Women & Families and the team at Family Values @ Work.
The Summit was empowering, as we saw advocates from all over the nation who are working overtime to make paid sick days and paid family leave a reality for all working families. We also made time to visit with four of our representatives in Congress about work-family issues: Representatives Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer, Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden.
Still failing our families
But sometimes we’re still struck by how incredibly disappointing it is that (in 2012) we don’t already have laws in place protecting the most basic needs of working families. We are, in fact, the only industrialized nation in the world to not have national labor standards on both paid sick days and paid family leave. That’s right, the. only. one. And most states — including Oregon — have failed to fill the gap in leadership at the federal level by taking action locally to support our working families.. As a result, too many families – and the businesses they work for – suffer the consequences.
When it comes to family leave, only 11% of employees in the U.S. have paid family leave programs through their employers, and less than 50% are eligible for unpaid family leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
As for paid sick time, 40% of all private-sector workers and 80% of low-income workers have no paid sick days from their job – not one. Yet every single one of us gets sick!
As you can see, our family policies are just plain out of date and broken – and we’re lagging further and further behind the many countries that have successfully moved to a 21st century model that works for today’s families and their employers.
There’s a very promising movement afoot
Fortunately, there is a powerful national – and local – movement afoot to modernize our nation’s workplace and public policies. The overarching goal is really quite reasonable: to establish modern workplace and public policies that allow parents to be good employees, good providers and good caregivers. We call them 21st-century workplaces for 21st-century families. We’re thrilled to see more and more employers understanding that the changes we seek will deliver them a healthier, more committed and productive workforce. Turns out, pro-worker policies are pro-business, too.
We invite you to read about the summit here. We’re excited to share with you the momentum that’s picking up around these issues nationwide.