New York

The New York Paid Leave Coalition raises awareness about the need for a paid sick day standard to cover the 1.3 million NYC workers that risk losing their job or a day’s pay if they stay home when they or their child becomes ill. The coalition includes advocates working on behalf of women, children, the aged, labor, business, low-wage workers, restaurant workers, immigrants, public health advocates, doctors and nurses.  Since 2009, the Coalition has organized ten uniquely themed press conferences, a march from Brooklyn to City Hall, a subway poster campaign, polling, door-knocking in the Speaker’s district, studies, petitions, constituent group sign-on letters, email and social-media campaigns which resulted in a veto-proof majority of 35 City Council co-sponsors. In the middle of negotiations with the Speaker’s office in October 2010, Speaker Christine Quinn shelved the bill, preventing a floor-vote, agreeing instead to review the NYC economy every 60 days to determine if a paid sick days law would be burdensome to small business. The Coalition re-launched the paid sick days campaign in 2011 to strengthen support for the bill within the faith, LGBT and labor communities, and obtain feedback from the five borough Chambers of Commerce and Council Members on their concerns about bill language.  Our goal is to get a revised bill reintroduced in 2012.

The New York Paid Leave Coalition, A Better Balance, the Working Families Party, and the New York state AFL-CIO have also worked hard in recent years to build support for a paid leave bill that would increase the temporary disability insurance rate in steps over 4 years to $580 per week and then index it in future years to 50 percent of the statewide average weekly wage. Our current strategy is to meet with Governor Cuomo’s staff to initiate discussions on paid family leave and to work with our Assembly sponsor to obtain a Senate sponsor prior to the January 2012 legislative session.  Our goal is to resurrect support for paid family leave which passed the Assembly in 2005 and 2007.

A Better Balance – Park Slope Parents Speak Out from Letitia Productions on Vimeo.