Washington State Representative Gael Tarleton speaks the Seattle TAKE BACK YOUR TIME DAY picnic about why she introduced a paid vacation bill in the Washington legislature and the need to protect the rights of working Americans and the middle class. CELEBRATION Picnic at Gasworks Park, for Take Back Your Time Day! –and the 75th Anniversary […]
Paid Sick Leave
Voter support clear for wage, sick leave legislation
The just-concluded elections helped to resolve nothing in our state. We will have a small Republican majority in the state Senate and a small Democratic majority in the state House. They won’t agree on much of anything. Perhaps the Legislature can take a few hints from other states and cities around the country. In Arkansas, […]
Time to take care of our own: Let’s pull ourselves into the 21st century, America
The United States is one of four countries in the world that doesn’t offer new moms paid maternity leave. Pakistan has better maternity leave policies than us. Now, I can be an American exceptionalist as good as the next girl, but are you kidding me? Just two months ago, the FAMILY Act was introduced to […]
Can we all benefit from the economy?
The slow recovery from the great recession has heightened stark inequality in Puget Sound. Corporate profits and the stock market are soaring (think Boeing) but wages are stagnant, workers have lost their company pensions (think Boeing) and job growth is still lagging. Even with the 777X, think of Boeing again — they pushed 1,500 engineering […]
A Seattle Mom’s Story: Why We All Need Paid Sick Days
One evening in 2010, Monica’s baby had a seizure. After a frantic call to 911, a terrifying rush to the hospital, and a night spent by her son’s side, Monica had to get to her 7 am shift at a local Safeway. She hated to leave her son but she couldn’t afford to lose a […]
Seattle Speaks for Itself: D.C. Corporate Group is dead wrong on paid sick leave
Last week, The Seattle Times published an op-ed by Michael Saltsman of the D.C. Employment Policies Institute asserting that a recent EPI study had found Seattle’s paid sick days law was hurting local businesses. As we pointed out at the time, EPI’s ‘report’ was basically an opinion survey of targeted opponents to sick days. But […]