At 08:33 AM 11/12/2009, SA wrote:
>[This sounds pretty good, a priori.
>
>But what's up with the fascist-sounding name: "The Healthy Families Act"?
>It sounds like something the Nazi Minister of Family would have come up
>with. The bill applies to everyone, so why invoke only families in the
>title? I've become increasingly aware of how fascist the lexicon of
>mainstream American political discourse sounds. The slogan of the Vichy
>regime was "Travail, Patrie, Famille" - it sounds like just another
>presidential inauguration speech.]
>
>--
>
>http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/white-house-endorses-paid-sick-leave-bill/
>
>White House Endorses Paid Sick Leave Bill
>By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
>
>The H1N1 pandemic is raising concerns about people reporting to work sick
>and spreading the disease. The pandemic has given momentum to
>Congressional efforts to enact legislation that would guarantee paid sick
>days to tens of millions of workers — although it is far from clear that
>such legislation will be enacted. Those legislative efforts received added
>momentum on Tuesday when the Obama administration backed the Healthy
>Families Act, which would guarantee seven sick days a year to workers in
>companies with 15 or more employees.
>
>In testifying before the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee's
>Subcommittee on Children and Families, Deputy Labor Secretary Seth Harris,
>said,
>
>The Healthy Families Act offers an important opportunity to provide
>workers with economic security by assuring that they have the ability to
>stay home if they are sick without fear of losing their jobs or being
>forced to go to work sick because they cannot afford to stay home.
>
>Mr. Harris noted that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that 39
>percent of American workers do not receive paid sick days.
>
>Last May, the Healthy Families Act was introduced in the Senate by Edward
>M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat, and in the House by Rosa DeLauro,
>a Connecticut Democrat. The bill has more than 110 sponsors in the House.
>In the Senate, Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat, has become
>the bill's chief sponsor, and it has more than 20 sponsors.
>
>Last week, Representative George Miller, the California Democrat who is
>chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, introduced an
>emergency bill that would guarantee five paid sick days to employees at
>businesses with 15 or more workers who are directed to stay home by
>management because they have or are believed to have H1N1 or another
>communicable disease. The bill would sunset after two years.
>
>Mr. Harris said, "The vision for the Department of Labor is good jobs for
>everyone. And one of the key components of a good job is having workplace
>flexibility for family and personal caregiving. We believe that work-life
>balance includes policies such as paid leave, flexible work schedules and
>teleworking, employee assistance programs, child care, and elder care support."
>___________________________________
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