What do firms have against workplace health? - : Jump to: Search, Content, Nav
June 17, 2013
What a Wage is Worth
Massachusetts is among the richest states in the nation, second in per capita income only to Connecticut, where the minimum wage is pegged at $8.25 an hour
April 20, 2013
What do firms have against workplace health?
Why do the group and its members so often consider public protection measures as government intrusions? Why do they regularly oppose measures for labor rights, chemical safety, environmental health, and quality protections?
April 15, 2013
Support grows for legislation requiring paid sick leave
A nearly decade-long effort to require Massachusetts employers to offer paid sick days is gaining momentum as lawmakers pass similar proposals across the country.

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What do firms have against workplace health?

From The Boston Globe

The article “Calls rising for paid sick days” (Page A1, April 15) quoted John Regan, executive vice president at Associated Industries of Massachusetts, as saying, “Our members are . . . saying, ‘Let me run my business.’ ” The Globe summarized that sentiment as considering “a sick-pay mandate” to be “another unwarranted intrusion by government into the private sector.” Why do the group and its members so often consider public protection measures as government intrusions? Why do they regularly oppose measures for labor rights, chemical safety, environmental health, and quality protections?

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, mentioned his members’ burdens from the Massachusetts health reform, warning that “we need to be wary of broad-brush new mandates.” Paid sick leave as part of work compensation started in the 1920s and ’30s. It isn’t new.

In 2007, the Institute for Health and Social Policy reported that “at least 145 countries provide paid sick days for short- or long-term illnesses.” These are normal provisions of modern industrial economies. More industry leaders should join us in creating a high-end economic model based on fairly sharing the wealth and caring for the sick among us.

Craig Slatin

Lowell