Demand Paid Sick Days for American Workers
Legislation is pending that will require employers with 15 or more full-time employees to provide at least seven paid sick days a year -- a benefit 86 million working Americans don't have. That's nearly half the American workforce!
Paid sick days are especially crucial for working women. Around 40 percent of the private sector workplace don't receive any paid sick days. That includes more than 22 million women. And low-wage earners are hit especially hard, with well over half of them having no paid sick days at all.
This isn't just unfair. This is a public health issue that directly affects you and your loved ones. Many workers in industries that require constant contact with the public -- including 86 percent of all workers in the food, child care, nursing and retail industries -- don't have this basic health care benefit.
Urge your senator to support the Healthy Families Act!
Dear Senator,
As your constituent, I am greatly disturbed that nearly half of American private-sector workers, including 22 million women, have no paid sick days. Paid sick days aren't just good for families, they're good for business.
According to recent research, The Healthy Families Act could actually save money by reducing turnover and the number of workers who come to work sick. At least 147 countries around the world provide paid sick days -- with
127 of them providing a week or more annually. Seven paid sick days is not too much to ask for in America -- and I urge you to support this bill.
[Your comment here]
It's time for America to live up to its rhetoric about family values.
