Do you support a Universal Paid Sick Leave Program ?

[Joe Republic]

A policy that should have support of everyone that can get sick and has a child.  A strong PRO-FAMILY policy that most of the conservatives can endorse.  I don't know why it hasn't been implemented federally as a top priority.

Americans have always been proud adherents of the hustle and grind culture since at least the Industrial Revolution.*

"Sick?  It's all in the mind.  My grandpappy lost all his arms and legs in a corn thresher when he was 25 and he never missed a day's work til he retired."

"What do you mean you need several weeks off to have a baby?  Surely labor only takes a day or two?"

"Sure you have PTO hours available.  It tells you how many you have right there on your paycheck.  Just don't try and actually use them; we need all hands on deck here."

"Stay loyal to your job and they will always be loyal to you!"

"Remember, work hard, put in extra effort and long hours and your boss will always notice.  That's the only way to get a raise."

"Employees don't want more money, akshually.  What they really want is for their workplace to be like a family, with pizza parties and foosball tables!"

"You can't pay your rent?  Sucks to be you.  Just get a second job.  Oh, you already have one?  Okay then, a third.  Anyway, instead of renting you should have just bought a house in the 90s like I did."



* Go back any further than that and you start to find people grinding the hardest of all who, ahem, weren't getting paid for their labor at all…

[Joe Republic]

Ironic you should say that because the large companies in the US, Netflix, Goldman Sachs, et cetera, are realizing, that since they're competing globally, they have to start offering benefits that are like... well every other country.

Goldman Sachs for example has 20 weeks of paid parental leave and 9 paid sick leave days. Penumbra ( a medical device company ) in California also has paid sick leave, and 12 weeks of parental leave.

The railword companies, and smaller companies are the odd ones out. And for whatever reason, teachers, police officers, firefighters. The public sector workers. At least in California.

Yes, as the grind culture "nobody wants to work any more!!" Boomers are steadily giving way to the next generations, big companies are finally starting to realize the real reason why they can't seem to find and keep good talent around these days.

Private businesses can always make the necessary changes very rapidly.  The public sector, as always, makes changes at a glacial pace, and usually requires some level of buy in from the general public (of which Boomers and other stingy taxpayers still hold sway).

[Joe Republic]

Unionized labor falling off in America is also directly correlated to why Americans have lagged the world in work benefits. When unions get benefits for their members they tend to be applied broadly to everybody because it's just easier. So many of the benefits that American workers have historically enjoyed are because of unions and progressive politcal movements not because companies felt generous or the so called free market mandated better benefits.

Some big companies (including ones I've worked for) also offered fairly generous benefits because they were terrified their employees might start whispering the 'u' word amongst themselves if they didn't.  But that arrangement only works if the threat of unionization exists to begin with.

[Joe Republic]

Yes, but some smaller businesses might not be able to afford it.  So put a number on the number of employees a company must have before it is mandatory (I'm not going to).

The problem with that is if small businesses won't offer paid sick time as a benefit, they may struggle to compete with the bigger companies in the hiring market.  Rather than be exempted from a federal law mandating paid leave, the government would step in to cover the tab for businesses under a certain size.