Keep the MOMentum going for Philadelphia paid sick days!

2011

Great news! Thanks to the efforts of MomsRising members like you, the Philadelphia paid sick days bill was successfully voted out of a City Council committee last Tuesday! That means we are now in the clear for the bill to come before the full City Council for a decisive vote. YAY!

There's still a lot of work to be done - but the first step is to thank the City Council members who voted for paid sick days and to urge the others to support the bill when it comes before the full Council for a vote.

Now's the time to keep the MOMentum going! Take a moment to send a, “Thank you, keep up the good work,” message to the Philly City Council. You can sign our note by filling in the form to the right. And, if you want, add a personal message in the box below the form.

Sign Today!

Dear Council Member,

As Philadelphia resident and a member of MomsRising, I am thrilled that the paid sick days bill was successfully voted out of committee last Tuesday.

Thank you to those City Council Members who voted in support of the family-friendly, common sense paid sick days bill. I also want to urge other Council members to support the bill when it comes before the full Council for a vote.

We ALL get sick. When we’re worried about our kids’ health or our own health, we shouldn’t also have to worry if we can pay the rent or if we’ll still have a job when we get better. Thank you

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Subject: Philly paid sick days takes a giant leap forward! Your message to friends:

Dear Friend,

Great news! The Philadelphia paid sick days bill was successfully voted out of a City Council committee last Tuesday! That means we are now in the clear for the bill to come before the full City Council for a decisive vote.

YAY!

Can you take a moment to send a, “Thank you, keep up the good work,” message to the Philly City Council? You can sign our note, and, if you want, add your own note as well. http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Philly_psd_3_11/?source=taf

Next Steps:

The Committee vote last Tuesday was a huge step forward, but there is still more to be done.

Now, within the next eight weeks, the paid sick days bill will go to the entire City Council for a vote. We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us, because some short sighted corporate lobbyists will pull out all the stops to keep this bill from passing.

Our first step is to thank the Council members who voted for the bill and urge the others to support this commonsense family-friendly policy that is also good for business.

Take a moment now to sign our, “Thank you, keep up the good work,” message to the Philadelphia City Council--and if you want, you can add your own note as well. http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Philly_psd_3_11/?source=taf

Why are paid sick days so critical?

We all know how fast the flu can travel through a workplace; school, or child care center, yet two out of five employees in Philadelphia are not allowed by their employers to earn paid sick days. [1] That means they have an impossible choice between going to work sick, and losing a day’s pay (and possibly their jobs) if they stay home sick or with sick kids. This is a big problem – when sick folks aren’t able to stay home, it puts everyone’s health at risk – coworkers, restaurant patrons, school kids and well, everyone.

Paid sick days are good for working families, public health and business. Paid sick days will help contain health care costs through prevention, early detection, and treatment of illness. With paid sick days, families will not be forced to send sick children to school and likely infect classmates and teachers; workers with paid sick days would not spread illness to their coworkers and customers; and businesses would benefit from more productive employees, higher employee morale and reduced turnover costs.

Providing paid sick days is also smart for business. Research shows that the costs of replacing workers, including advertising for, interviewing and training new employees often far outweighs the cost of offering paid sick days which contributes to employee retention. [2] Additionally, presenteeism, when workers come to work sick, costs the national economy about $180 billion a year in lost productivity versus absenteeism. [3]

The city of San Francisco passed a similar law in 2006, and its businesses haven't experienced a negative impact. In fact, San Francisco experienced stronger employment growth in industries most affected by paid leave – retail, hospitality, food service etc – than the neighboring counties without paid sick days. [5]

Send a message today to Philadelphia City Council members thanking them for voting the bill out of committee and urging them to vote for the bill when it comes up to be voted on by the full Council! You can also personalize the note when you click here: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Philly_psd_3_11/?source=taf

*And don’t forget to forward this to your friends and family in Philly so they can take action too!

Thanks for all you do!

P.S. Have an experience about the need for paid sick days to share? Please do! MomsRising will compile your notes to deliver to the City Council in support of paid sick days. http://www.momsrising.org/submit/mrstory/psd?source=taf

[1] Amy Traub, Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, “Paid Sick Time: Healthy for Philadelphia Workers and Businesses”, 2010

[2] Christine Siegwarth Meyer, et al, Work-Family Benefits: Which Ones Maximize Profits?, Journal of Managerial Issues, vol. 13, no. 1, Spring 2001.

[3] Ron Goetzal, et al, Health Absence, Disability, and Presenteeism Cost Estimates, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, April 2004.

[4] National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago for the Public Welfare Foundation, “Paid Sick Days: Attitudes and Experiences” June 2010

[5] Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, Paid Sick Leave Does Not Harm Employment, March 2010

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Keep the MOMentum going for Philadelphia paid sick days!