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Rally Online for Paid Sick Days
At noon this past Friday, the National Partnership for Women and Families launched an Online Rally for Healthy Families at www.EveryoneGetsSick.org. Visit the rally to urge Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act and hear from community leaders, workers, and elected officials about the need for a basic standard of paid sick days. You can also share your story or upload your photo.
Currently, there are no state or federal laws that require workplaces to guarantee paid sick days. The Healthy Families Act, introduced in Congress earlier this year, would create a new standard of up to seven paid sick days per year for workers to recover from their own illnesses, or to care for sick family members.
In women-dominated occupations, such as in the food service and hotel industries, four in five workers have no paid sick days. Working women shouldn't have to choose between their job and taking care of their families' health. But in reality, millions of working women are forced to make those decisions. In fact, half of workers don't have a single paid sick day. Women Work! strongly supports the Healthy Families Act to advance the economic well-being of low-income women and their families.
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House Appropriations Committee Takes Up Workforce Investment, Education Issues
The House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Education and Health and Human Services held a hearing on Tuesday to discuss the costs of inadequate education, training, and workforce development to the U.S. economy. During witness testimony, experts agreed that the economic and social benefits of government investment in adults, children, and the workforce greatly outweigh the costs.
Harry Holzer, Professor of Public Policy at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, spoke specifically about the negative economic effects of inadequate investment in workforce development. (Click here to read Holzer's testimony.) The costs of a poorly trained workforce, he testified, include lower earnings, higher poverty rates, lost productivity, lost tax revenue, higher welfare expenditures, and an increase in crime. In monetary terms, these costs are much greater than the cost of an adequate expenditure on workforce development programs.
As detailed in the last issue of The Insider, the Bush Administration has proposed substantial cuts in funding for workforce development and education programs in the name of fiscal responsibility. However, as Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) pointed out at the hearing, the economic and social costs of not making these investments are not given enough attention by policymakers. As the annual budget and appropriations process continues, Women Work! will push for workforce development policies that bring high returns to the American economy.
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March Forth for Child Care!
In response to the Bush Administration's proposed cuts or freezes to child care and early education funding, several national organizations are organizing "March Forth," an advocacy initiative to let Congress know that child care services that help families achieve economic self-sufficiency should be prioritized in their budget deliberations. If the Administration's cuts are adopted, 200,000 children and their families will lose access to child care assistance and 13,000 children will lose Head Start.
Action Needed: On March 4th, Ask Congress to Invest in Child Care and Head Start!
The National Women's Law Center has provided a March Forth resources page where you can SEND AN EMAIL to your Senators and Representative. Let your Congress members know that child care programs are an economic necessity for low-income women and their families!
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| Advocacy Day 2008 Coming Soon!
If you have not already registered for Women Work!'s joint national conference with the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, April 6th - 9th, be sure to do so today! The conference is an incredible opportunity to promote women's economic equity by advocating for policies that help women enter and advance in the workforce.
Our annual Advocacy Day will be on the second full day of the conference, April 8th. We urge you to take advantage of this important opportunity to educate Members of Congress about what it takes to prepare a diverse workforce for high-wage, high-skill careers.
Schedule appointments with your Senators and Representatives today!
Click here for more information on scheduling Congressional meetings for Advocacy Day 2008.
See you there!
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