The inauguration of Joseph Biden, Jr., as president and Kamala Harris as vice president presents new opportunities and offers a new phase of activism for the time to care movement. Today, we stand ready to build on the momentum of our wins by partnering with this new administration to realize immediate paid time for those dealing with COVID-19; a permanent, national paid leave program; and massive investments in quality, affordable child care.
Today also represents a line in the sand. After four years of policies and rhetoric that promoted growing inequity, hateful speech, attacks on democracy and active support for white supremacists, today the country begins a proactive march in the opposite direction. We welcome new leadership with a fresh vision for our nation, one that prioritizes an infrastructure of caring, equity, and respect. This bold vision will require significant investment in ways that spur systemic change.
The last year has been a period of reckoning. We stand with our national and state partners, and leaders across the country, in knowing that we will not go back to a society that was not working for most Americans. We will resist any push for a return to the unjust economy that has left millions of Americans on the brink of personal ruin; deadly disparities in health care or the racial inequalities that penetrate every facet of our lives. The old guard of power is demanding further sacrifices of people and communities that can’t afford them. Such demands sustain the historic and ongoing racial and gender inequities that have formed the basis of our current economy, and are out of step with the needs of working people. The nation will prosper most when prosperity is shared.
As the armed presence in our nation’s capital and around the country remind us, the danger to democracy is far from over. We will work with partners to create policies and enforcement mechanisms that strengthen the people’s right to free and fair elections, representation on the job and safety in their homes and communities. We will ensure the rights of all people to give and receive care without having to choose between that care and keeping their jobs. We encourage President Biden to use the influence of his office and convening power to galvanize businesses, caregivers, labor unions and families to support a new care economy.
Our diverse network of grassroots coalitions in more than two dozen states represents the heart of this nation. We stand ready to work with fresh leadership to build a durable and equitable care infrastructure––one that honors the invisible caregiving work that undergirds every industry and every workplace. The Biden-Harris administration is already showing leadership. They are naming the solutions our network and paid leave champions have long called for in their states and across the nation. The FV@W network has laid the path needed to make paid time to care a reality for everyone. This is our moment to win lasting change.
