This is What Bipartisanship Looks Like

When Zero Weeks premiered in Washington, DC on April 17, the audience got to see how paid leave can be a bipartisan issue and experience activism in real time.

Joe Fain, a Republican state senator from Washington state, spoke on the panel after the film, along with filmmaker Ky Dickens, small business owner Marcia St. Hilaire-Finn, and Marjorie Sims, the deputy director of Ascend. Sen. Fain described how he came to embrace family and medical leave insurance based on his own experience when his son was born. Because the birth took place when the legislature was out of session, Sen. Fain was able to spend three months at home with the baby. His wife, an attorney at a law firm, had three months paid leave. They also had support from both sets of parents who all live nearby.

“We had every privilege, everything goes right – and we were still exhausted,” he told the audience. “If we’re feeling exhausted, how in the world can anyone that faces the types of challenges we saw in that film be able to make ends meet?”

So this Republican was open to a paid leave program. The coalition in Washington state had built a powerful base and was prepared to take the issue to the ballot if necessary. “I may not be a genius at politics,” he said, “but I can read a poll. From a partisan standpoint, it’s completely dumb to give ground on an issue that has 80 percent support.”

Sen. Fain was also persuaded by the economic arguments. He saw this as an “economic justice issue that raises all steps on the ladder.” He described how small business owners came forward and said, “We’re trying to hire programmers just like Amazon and Microsoft; they have great leave programs and we can’t afford it, we’re small, we’re scrappy, we’re a start-up.” According to Sen. Fain, “this is a way for government to level the playing field to help small businesses work and advance as well.”

Two other arguments he found compelling: that the program is self-sustaining, and that it will help retain jobs. He used that argument with the hospitality industry lobbyist. Sen. Fain made the case that paid leave is a way to professionalize the industry, create “stable, long-term employment by employees who show a commitment to [their employer] because companies are able to show a commitment to them.”

Joe Fain convinced the majority of his colleagues to vote for a strong statewide bill – and noted that not a single one is going to lose their seat as a result. He himself was voted legislator of the year by the hospitality industry.

The audience was delighted to hear the story of how legislators, activists and business lobbyists built trust and came up with a really strong paid leave policy, one that covers every employee in the state, will be affordable (wage replacement is at 90 percent up to a cap,) and creates two pots of leave, disability as well as bonding and family leave, with a maximum from the two pots of 16 weeks a year. But the good news didn’t stop there.

During the Q&A, Liz Schlegel from Alchemist Brewery, a member of Main Street Alliance in Vermont, told Sen. Fain, “I need you to call my Governor and make the case for bipartisanship.” The senator agreed on the spot.

Then he heard from Krystina Wilson of Chicago, who in the film shares a heartbreaking story of loss. She asked Sen. Fain whether the Washington or federal bill includes time for bereavement.

“I had a lot of expectations about my trip here,” he told her. “I expected to catch up with an old friend, come to this screening, visit with legislators. I didn’t think would sit in the back row and cry for 5 minutes” because of Krystina’s story. Bereavement “wasn’t a topic that came up,” he said.

“That’s why we sit in these rooms and watch films like that, because you better believe it’s going to be a topic in the next room.”

By Ellen Bravo, co-director of Family Values @ Work

Watch the conversation about paid leave and Zero Weeks between Joe Fain, a Republican state senator from Washington state, filmmaker Ky Dickens, small business owner Marcia St. Hilaire-Finn, and Marjorie Sims, the deputy director of Ascend.