by Arlene Holt Baker, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President
Reposted from the AFL-CIO NOW Blog
Over the weekend, all eyes were on the Super Bowl in Indianapolis, where tens of thousands traveled to see the event and hundreds of thousands more watched it on television. But while the spotlight was on the game, workers across the city took to the streets to protest the outrages happening to working people.
In one such event, we rallied at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Indianapolis, where hardworking hotel housekeepers are fighting to keep their jobs and boost their poverty-level pay at a hotel where rates can be more than $1,000 a night for a Super Bowl week room. Twenty longtime hotel workers may be out of jobs in a few days when the hotel ends a subcontract with Hospitality Staffing Solutions.
The hotel workers are not in this fight alone. In the midst of what is undoubtedly the busiest few days for football players, DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), and NFL players joined Hyatt housekeepers at the rally to demand Hyatt end its abuse of subcontracted workers and hire outsourced workers directly. Smith said NFL players would continue a year-old boycott of Hyatt over its treatment of workers and told the crowd:
I love people who stand together to fight for what’s right.
Just blocks from the Super Bowl, these football players, together with construction workers, office staff and steelworkers, stood side by side with hotel housekeepers, joined in common cause by the struggles that unite all working people—all of the 99 percent in this country who are fighting against corporate greed and challenging politicians who seek to take away our rights as citizens of this great country.
Days ago, some of those politicians right here in Indiana pushed through the state legislature legislation that is a massive assault on the wages of the state’s working people. The “right to work” for less bill was hustled through the legislative process in a series of dirty tricks in outright contempt for democracy.
What’s happening in Indiana is just one part of the massive assault on working families across the country. Yet over the past year, we saw again and again the strength of collective action, of public protest in state after state as the rights of workers came under attack. We re-learned that we are not alone, and we have seen that when we stand together with those who share our values, victory is ours.
Hours after Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) signed Indiana’s contemptuous bill, tens of thousands of Hoosier workers came together in solidarity to march from the statehouse to Super Bowl village. Construction workers and teachers, grocery clerks and truck drivers chanted “Remember November,” vowing to take back the state door by door, neighborhood by neighborhood.
This year, as in Indiana, we will stand together for jobs and for economic freedom across the nation. We’ll congregate in the public square. And on Election Day, we’ll march to the ballot box to cast our votes for economic, social and political justice.
Photo from Stand Up for Hoosiers on Facebook
(Guest post from Arlene Holt Baker, Executive Vice President of the AFL-CIO)
Right now in Denver, Colorado, there is both a jobs and public health crisis.
Parents are sending their sick children to school. Working adults are unable to take time off and care for elderly parents. Small businesses and taxpayers are spending too much on emergency care. And in restaurants and coffee shops across the city, waitresses and cooks are preparing and serving food while sick.
This fall, the people of Denver have a chance to change all of this by voting yes on Initiative 300.
Initiative 300 is a very simple proposition:
- For every 30 hours of work, hardworking men and women in Denver can earn one hour of paid sick leave.
- This leave is only usable after 90 days of employment.
- Businesses with 10 or more employees can only accrue a maximum of nine earned sick days, while employees of smaller businesses earn a maximum of five earned sick days.
This proposition is not partisan or ideological. It is in response to the fact that over 100,000 Denver workers cannot afford to stay at home when they, or their child gets sick. . It is in response to parents having to choose between losing their job and staying home to care for a sick child. It is in response to two out of every five of workers in Denver – including hospital workers, baristas, and food service workers – going into environments and potentially infecting hundreds of others because they can’t afford to miss a day’s wages.
Seniors, who are already facing increased medical costs, are at risk as well. When nursing home workers and other healthcare professionals work with elderly citizens out of economic necessity, they endanger our most vulnerable – not to mention the workers who don’t have the ability to take time off to care for an elderly relative.
Denver isn’t the only city facing these conditions. Nationally, 2 out of every 3 restaurant workers don’t have access to a single day of earned paid sick leave. What’s even more disturbing? An incredible 90 percent of restaurant workers report cooking, preparing, and serving food while sick. Not just a little sick either – I’ve heard individuals talk about going into work with incredibly contagious diseases like the flu and H1N1!
It’s no wonder that cities like Seattle and San Francisco and states like Connecticut are passing reasonable earned sick leave provisions. And it’s no wonder that in those cities, earned sick leave laws are receiving support from all sides of the political spectrum. Whether you are a Democrat, Independent or Republican, we’ve all experienced the worry and heartache of taking care of a sick loved one. And I bet neither liberal nor conservative diners want a waiter sneezing in their soup.
I know for a fact that all moms – no matter their political stripes – don’t want to send their child into a school full of sick classmates.
The best news about Initiative 300 is that it’sgood for businesses. Studies show that with an earned sick leave provision, between reduced turnover and lower emergency medical costs, Denver businesses will save $1.4 million annually if voters say “Yes” to Initiative 300.
Luckily, we’re finding that Denver citizens support Initiative 300 once they understand it. Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, has been going to door to door about earned paid sick days and how the measure could help the city. Last week, after knocking on nearly 18,000 doors, they gathered 3,000 postcards from Coloradans in support of paid sick days and healthier future for our community.
The simple proposition of 1 hour of leave for 30 hours of work is nonpartisan, reasonable, fair, and good for Denver. It reflects our shared values of family, responsibility, and the drive to make Denver an even better place to do business, go to school, and live healthfully. Initiative 300 is good for families, good for public health, and good for businesses.
This fall, say yes to a healthy Denver, and vote “Yes” on Initiative 300.
This year’s election in Denver is an all-mail election. In order to have your ballot counted, make sure you mail it in by Thursday, October 27th.
Tags: Colorado, Denver, Health Care, Paid Sick Days
