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January 17, 2011
Discounted Jobs: How Retailers Sell Workers Short
Retail is one of the fastest growing sectors in the United States and a core part of the New York City economy. This study, conducted in the fall of 2011, sought to track the wages and working conditions of frontline non-managerial workers in New York’s booming retail industry. We interviewed workers employed at non-union large stores and national chains from high-end 5th Avenue fashion to off-brand clothing retailers on Fordham Road in the Bronx. Because New York is the retail capital of the United States, and the majority of respondents worked in stores with a national presence, this study paints a portrait of the practices and conditions experienced by retail workers across the country.
January 10, 2011
Should Paid Sick Days be Required by Law?
Millions of Americans have to go to work when they fall ill, a phenomenon known as presenteeism. But mandatory paid sick leave is healthier for us all. Connecticut just became the first state in the nation to require employers to provide workers with paid sick days. The new law — which also allows paid leave for a sick child or spouse — is controversial. Opponents attack it as big government run amok and say it will kill jobs. But it is the right thing to do, both as a matter of humane treatment of workers and public health. And while the law doesn’t cover everyone, it’s a step in the right direction and other states should follow Connecticut’s lead.
Dec. 16, 2011
Editorial from Senator Wolf, Chair of the Labor, Workforce, and Economic Development Committee: Making the Real-World Case for Paid Sick Days
Paid sick leave should become part of the accepted responsibility of running a business in Massachusetts. To me, this is both humane and smart. A simple, consistent paid sick leave policy would make for a better work environment defined both in terms of quality of life and, long term, the bottom line. From the very beginning, Cape Air, the airline I founded, has offered paid time off for all employees – as have many successful businesses across the region and state. I can say from hard-won experience that this “benefit” does not break the bank. It is a minimal cost, often returned in spades when a grateful, trusted, productive employee returns to work.

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Lawmakers consider sick leave mandate

Lawmakers consider sick leave mandate
By Colleen Quinn

State House News Service / July 15, 2011

Paid sick days are a basic right and should be granted to workers by all employers, proponents of a proposed law said yesterday, as business groups argued that the mandate will hurt job growth during an anemic economic recovery.

Members of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development heard testimony from employee advocacy groups, their colleagues, and from workers who urged lawmakers to require all businesses, regardless of size, to offer full-time employees the ability to earn up to seven paid sick days per year. According to the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, more than 1 million people lack any sick pay benefits.

Proponents said those who do not receive benefits are primarily workers who can least afford to take time off without pay. Some advocates called it a women’s issue because mothers often must choose between caring for a sick child or going to work.

Last month, Connecticut passed a law requiring paid sick days. San Francisco passed a similar measure in 2007. Paid sick days are also the focus this week at an event in Washington, D.C., dubbed the 2011 National Summit on Paid Sick Days and Paid Family Leave.

While similar proposals have faltered in the past, Massachusetts lawmakers who support the law said it has a good chance of passing this time around, despite business opposition.

Representative Kay Khan, Democrat of Newton and one of the lead sponsors of the bill, said lawmakers who support the measure have met with business groups to understand their objections.

“It is carefully designed to also take into consideration the business community,’’ Khan said. “We would like to get them on board here and work with them.’’

But employers argue it will hurt job growth in the state and hurt the economic recovery.

“I believe in these very difficult economic times when local employers are still not growing due in part to the unaffordable costs of our first-in-the-nation health care mandate, the last thing we need is to further hurt small employers with more state government-imposed costs and red tape,’’ Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement.

Tim Sullivan, legislative and communications director for the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said business opposition to the proposed mandate was expected and asserted that businesses overstate the probable impact of the proposed policy on their bottom lines.

“I fully expect it to be a day of business karaoke,’’ Sullivan said before the hearing. “They will all get up and sing the same song over and over that this is going to be economic doomsday.’’

Sullivan described it as a women’s issue because many mothers work part time or in lower wage jobs that do not pay benefits.

Last year, Lilly Ledbetter, whose name has become synonymous with efforts to support equal pay for women, visited the State House to testify in favor of the bill, along with Victoria Kennedy.

Quoting the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who filed similar legislation shortly before he died, Sullivan said during the hearing, “No one should have to choose between the child they love and the job they need.’’

Representative Martha Walz, Democrat of Boston, said she learned at an early age the importance of paid sick days from her mother.

“When I was younger, my mother had to choose between the children she loved and the job she needed,’’ she said.

When Walz was in elementary school she would have to stay home alone sick, and she joked that she learned to master heating up Campbell’s soup.

“How sad it is that was the choice my mother was forced to make so she could support,’’ her family, Walz said. “It is a dilemma too many people in this country face.’’