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June 22, 2010
MOMS PUSH STUCK PAID SICK DAYS BILL
Stroller-pushing moms and activists favoring a paid sick days bill roamed the State House Tuesday, visiting the offices of lawmakers and telling aides they want to dislodge the bill from committee and bring it up for floor votes before formal legislative sessions end in 38 days.
June 21, 2010
Lack of Paid Sick Days Takes Significant Toll on Workers’ Job Security & the Public Health, New Survey Finds
WASHINGTON, DC – Nearly one in six people polled in a national survey (16 percent) say they have lost a job for taking time off from work to care for a sick child or family member, or to cope with their own illness. Released today, the survey was conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago this spring.
May 16, 2010
Michele Shocked Rocks Johnny D's for Paid Sick Days
On May 16, 2010 Michele Shocked, singer/songwriter, held a concert at Johnny D's in Somerville to a packed crowd and brought attention to the plight of workers who are fired for being sick or staying home with a sick child.

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Contact your State Legislators to tell them this legislation is important to you!

  • Look up your State Legislators
  • E-mail your State Senator
  • E-mail your State Representative
  • Call the Massachusetts State House and ask for your Representative and/or Senator: (617) 722-2000
  • E-mail the Governor or call his office and tell him this legislation is important to you (617)725-4005 or 888.870.7770 (in state)

Update: Bill Discharged to the House Ways and Means Committee 4/27/10

On April 1st...

We had a rally for paid sick days, which came together beautifully. Lilly Ledbetter was really fantastic, relating her struggle for equal pay with the struggle of workers everywhere in Massachusetts for paid sick days. She talked about how this bill is about fairness and economic security. Vicki Kennedy was also amazing, talking about paid sick days being a common sense policy. And Governor Patrick, for the first time in our long campaign, came out in support of paid sick days and urged all of the legislators in the room to vote for our legislation. Our two lead sponsors, Sen. Jehlen and Rep. Khan were great as was our worker, Mary Tillman, and employers, Rob Everts and Dolph Vanderpol. And we were joined by Angela Menino who gave an impassioned plea for paid sick days as did the Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission, Dr. Barbara Ferrer. She astounded the crowd with the number of families affected by the flu because they were not able to stay home for fear of losing their jobs.

All of these terrific speakers were introduced and welcomed by our moderator, Bob Haynes, President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, who did a brilliant job of bringing it all together.  Thanks to all of the Coalition partners who sponsored the event and particularly those of you who worked tirelessly to pull this off - you know who you are. It was a great team effort. NOW it is time to capitalize on this momentum. Thanks to all of your efforts, the Health Care Financing Committee has discharged the bill to the House Ways and Means Committee.

JUNE 22, 2010: MOMS RISING DELIVERS SAN-O-GRAMS TO MEMBERS OF HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE AND SPEAKER DELEO
Moms Rising delivers San-O-Grams to Members of House Ways & Means Committee
Mom's Rising visits House Ways & Means Committee members  and Speaker Deleo to ask them to send Paid Sick Days bill to floor for a vote.

Moms talk with co-sponsor Rep. Balser
Moms talk with co-sponsor Rep. Balser, also a member of the House Ways & Means Committee.


Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition “Coalition” directed by Greater Boston Legal Services in collaboration with the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action is a coalition of over 60 local advocates, community organizations, labor unions, businesses, policy makers, doctors, researchers and policy and data experts working in collaboration to educate the public and policymakers about the critical need for policies that provide all workers with access to paid leave, specifically paid sick days, which help low-wage workers stay employed, build assets, and enhance the well-being of their children and families.  Find out more about us...

The Massachusetts Paid Leave Coalition is a founding member of the Family Values @ Work consortium, a group of fourteen states involved in a national movement of grassroots state coalitions and policy experts fighting for paid time to care.  For more information on FVAW’s advocacy for paid sick days and paid family leave insurance, please visit www.familyvaluesatwork.org.