Moms Bring Heat Wave to City Hall - Back Them Up Online!

Moms and dads have been there. It’s the middle of the night and your child is wide-awake, miserable and sick. If you have paid sick days, you can care for him or her the next day. However, if you are one of the approximately 1.5 million New Yorkers who can’t earn a single paid sick day, you have to make a horrible choice between the job you need and caring for the child you love.

It is bad for the health of everyone and bad for the economy when people are forced to go to work sick or send their children to school sick.

That’s right! Paid sick days would reduce health care costs, reduce the spread of contagions, protect people’s jobs and financial security, and boost businesses’ productivity. Almost 90% of workers handling food, and 43% of workers in close contact with children or the elderly do not have paid sick time.

It doesn’t have to be this way. One study estimates that if there had been a national paid sick days policy in place in 2009, 5 million (!!!) cases of the flu could have been avoided during the H1N1 pandemic.

Sign Today!

Dear New York City Council Speaker Quinn,

We urge you to support paid sick days in New York City as a matter of pubic health and economic security. Approximately 1.5 million workers in New York City can't earn a single paid sick day, which is bad for the health of all workers and bad for the economy. Paid sick days would reduce health care costs, reduce the spread of contagions, protect people’s jobs and financial security, and boost businesses’ productivity. Nearly 90% of workers handling food, and 43% of workers in close contact with children or the elderly do not have paid sick time. Paid sick days are critical for our city's public health.

Please bring the Paid Sick Time Act to a vote without delay! The time is now to support New York's working families. When our families are strong, our economy prospers.

Sincerely,

* First Name

* Last Name

* Email Address

Street Address

City

State

* ZIP

* required

Text alerts are optional, but a great way to stay up-to-date with MomsRising on the go!

Get SMS Alerts Standard text message charges may apply

Not ? Click here.

We'll keep you posted via email on this and other MomRising.org campaigns.

Add a Personal Message (optional)

Tell Your Friends About This Campaign

Enter email addresses separated by commas.
Click here to preview or add a note to your message to friends.

Subject: Hear about the Moms at City Hall? Your message to friends:

Hey!

Did you know that more than a million New Yorkers can't stay home when they are sick or when their child is ill? That's right approximately 1.5 million workers can’t earn a single paid sick day and have to make a horrible choice between the job they need and caring for themselves or the child they love. I got this from MomsRising. Check it out!

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Kate,

Moms and dads have been there. It’s the middle of the night and your child is wide-awake, miserable and sick. If you have paid sick days, you can care for him or her the next day. However, if you are one of the approximately 1.5 million New Yorkers who can’t earn a single paid sick day, you have to make a horrible choice between the job you need and the child you love.

So while meteorologists are issuing another heat advisory for today, women leaders from all over New York are turning up the heat at City Hall to support moms and dads, promote family economic security, and help boost the economic recovery of our City. Join us!

Women for Paid Sick Days Rally
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
New York City Hall, Steps
12pm

Join elected officials, working women, mothers, doctors, nurses, teachers, community organizations, labor, restaurant, direct care, retail, business, early childhood, & senior groups to bring the heat and shed light on this critical issue!

*Can't be there in person? Send an email to Speaker Quinn and let her know that it is time to protect family economic security and boost the City's economy by passing paid sick days legislation! http://action.momsrising.org/sign/HotMoms/?referring_akid=3405.141107.Yx1d7j&source=taf

There is nothing quite like a New Yorker's daily commute to work in the summer. Smoldering heat reflects off the concrete as you descend into the crowded subway station. Then, the train pushes more hot steam into the station. Eagerly, you enter the subway car anticipating a burst of relief from the air conditioner. Instead, your face is greeted by a fellow commuter's hot wet sneeze!

Sound familiar? It is bad for the health of all workers and bad for the economy when people are forced to go to work sick. [1]

That’s right! Paid sick days would reduce health care costs, reduce the spread of contagions, protect people’s jobs and financial security, and boost businesses’ productivity. [2] What's worse is that almost 90% of workers handling food, and 43% of workers in close contact with children or the elderly do not have paid sick time. [3]

It doesn’t have to be this way! Tell Speaker Quinn that moms and dads want paid sick days. http://action.momsrising.org/sign/HotMoms/?referring_akid=3405.141107.Yx1d7j&source=taf

A whopping 40 million people in the United States don’t have access to a single paid sick day. In fact, nearly 80% of low-wage workers and 40% of private sector workers don't have access to a single paid sick day. And this means that many people have little choice but to go to work sick--rather than staying home to get better and risk losing a day’s pay or even losing their job. [4]

This is bad for public health. One study estimates that if there had been a national paid sick days policy in place in 2009, 5 million (!!!) cases of the flu could have been avoided during the H1N1 pandemic. [5]

Seattle, San Francisco, and Connecticut have successfully enacted paid sick days policies. And in San Francisco, a recent survey has shown that paid sick days have NOT had the negative consequences opponents feared, the policy was easier to implement than anticipated and employees are not abusing the system. [6]

New York City can be among the first to put in place a smart and sound policy that promotes health and boosts business.

Send a note Speaker Quinn telling her that it is time for paid sick days in New York City! http://action.momsrising.org/sign/HotMoms/?referring_akid=3405.141107.Yx1d7j&source=taf

The lack of paid sick days is particularly devastating for working families with children. All children get sick at some point and need care.

Together, we are a force for women and families.

- Monifa, Ruth and the whole MomsRising team.

PS - To join the Campaign or to RSVP Your Attendance EMAIL INFO@TIMETOCARENY.ORG

PSS - Follow the event LIVE on twitter at #paidsickdays

[1] Community Service Society - http://www.cssny.org/news/entry/half-of-working-new-yorkers-report-that-their-employers-do-not-provide-paid

[2] Time to Care NY - http://www.timetocareny.org/Attachments/Fact%20Sheet%20Overview.pdf

[3] Community Service Society - http://www.cssny.org/news/entry/half-of-working-new-yorkers-report-that-their-employers-do-not-provide-paid

[4] New America Media - http://newamericamedia.org/2011/09/getting-sick-doesnt-pay.php and U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010, March). Employee Benefits in the United States: Selected paid leave benefits: Access, National Compensation Survey (Table 6)

[5] Kumar, S. et al. (2012, November 17). “The Impact of Workplace Policies and Other Social Factors on Self-Reported Influenza-Like Illness Incidence During the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic.” American Journal of Public Health, 102(1).

[6] City Limits - http://www.citylimits.org/conversations/169/time-for-mandatory-paid-sick-leave-in-new-york-city

Add a short note (optional, up to 500 characters):

G-FKC1JKZLDL

Privacy Policy (the basics): We do not share the information you've given us with unaffiliated groups without your explicit permission. For petitions, letters to the editor, and surveys you've signed or completed, we treat your name, city, state, and comments as public information. We will not make your street address publicly available, but we may transmit it to members of Congress, the President, or other targets specifically noted on the signup page. We will send you updates on this and other important campaigns by email. If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from our email list, you may do so. For our complete privacy policy, click here.

MomsRising.org

Moms Bring Heat Wave to City Hall - Back Them Up Online!