(WASHINGTON, DC)––Family Values @ Work is a movement network of grassroots coalitions in more than two dozen states working to win paid family and medical leave, earned sick and safe days, and affordable, high-quality childcare at the state and national levels. Today, FV@W released the following statement of disgust about the 2022 Reconciliation Bill:
Family Values @ Work is outraged that once again white men have chosen not to prioritize women, the poor, and communities of color by leaving child care out of the reconciliation package. Having already dropped paid leave from their priorities, Congress has squandered another opportunity to put partisan politics aside to prioritize the needs of working families.
Access to affordable, high-quality child care through a universal child care policy would not only empower women to re-enter the workforce, it would also result in an increase of almost $100,000 in their lifetime earnings. This single policy change would make nearly a decade’s worth of progress in closing the gender earnings gap. Families need child care in order to work, and an investment in a universal child care policy would provide stability and economic relief for workers and their families,
While we support the bill’s attention to climate and healthcare, we cannot overstate how investments in the nation’s care infrastructure are critical, and long overdue. The pandemic laid bare the interdependent nature of our lives. The appalling blow to communities of color and disregard for essential workers reflect policies and practices that have existed since our nation’s founding. With a stranglehold on resources, powerful corporations and the wealthy have ensured that we do not have the basic necessities to survive under normal circumstances, let alone during a crisis.
We demand that our leaders use their power to invest in an infrastructure of caring, equity, and respect. And we demand a government that takes the side of working people and the vulnerable and that guarantees the shared prosperity that we have earned, including living wages, access to healthcare and child care, paid sick and safe days and paid family and medical leave that allow us to heal, take care of our loved ones, and protect public health.
We are angry and tired at the absurdity of being in a country that forces women to give birth but will not provide the obvious supports needed for a family to thrive. We are resolute in our fight to make this nation one that guarantees paid family and medical leave, paid sick days, and affordable child care for all. Our work will not be done until we secure racial, gender, and economic justice for all.
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(Photo by Koshu Kunii on Unsplash)
