White House endorses paid sick days

[Omaha Steve]

Take action here: http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=942

"We are trying to pay down debts and make our family financially stable, but it's a hard road. And it's made a lot harder because whenever we get sick or our children get sick, we have to decide whether to stay home without pay, or to disregard doctor's orders and risk getting sicker and infecting other by going to work or school," testified MomsRising member and mother of three, Desiree, earlier this week in Congress.

Like 57 million people in the U.S., Desiree is not allowed to earn any paid sick days at her job. So on Tuesday, she traveled to Washington, D.C. from her hometown in Groton, Connecticut to testify before a Senate Committee about her family's experience with getting the flu and not having any paid sick days. The Senators at the hearing heard that if we're going to fight fight H1N1 and other flu pandemics, everyone needs to be allowed to earn paid sick days.


Desiree (a MomsRising member!) testified at a Senate Hearing about H1N1 and the need for paid sick days.

Act now! Tell your Congresspeople to pass the Healthy Families Act without delay!


The H1N1 flu shines a light on the problems that working families face every flu season. MomsRising members have been asking leaders to address this problem, and we are making progress.

Just this week the White House endorsed the Healthy Families Act1, which lets working people earn a minimum number of paid sick days per year. We need to make this a full court press!

*Take a moment to urge every member of Congress to move the Healthy Families Act forward toward passage into law: http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=942

Here's more of what Desiree said in her testimony:

"Families like mine need to be able to earn paid sick days - so we don't have to borrow from our rent money and go deeper into debt every time our kids get sick...having no paid sick days has really hurt our family's finances and economic stability."

With H1N1 and the flu season upon us, our nation's lack of paid sick days policy is finally in the news in a big way. More and more people (including elected leaders) understand that the widespread lack of paid sick days policies in our nation hurts both businesses and families. Experts agree that staying home when you're sick is a key way to stop the spread of illness, but nearly half of the private sector workforce in our nation don't have access to a single paid sick day--and public health experts are pointing out that if we want people to stay home to stop the spread of the flu, then we have to do something about the 57 million working people who aren't allowed to earn a single paid sick day.

The time to act is now.

We have Congress' attention, but we need your help to make sure they quickly address this widespread problem in the best way for families: By passing the Healthy Families Act.

Make sure that every single member of Congress knows that the time to solve this problem is now by taking action with 1-click here: http://momsrising.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=942

Don't let this moment pass us by. After you click the link to take action above, please forward this email far and wide so your friends and family can take action too.

Thank you!
--Kristin, Katie, Mary, Joan, Julia and the MomsRising.org Team

p.s. You can watch Desiree's powerful testimony here: http://www.momsrising.org/blog/momsrising-member-testifies-in-the-senate/

1. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/author/steven-greenhouse/