New Yorkers to Rally for Paid Sick Days

In a strong showing of support, small business owners and labor unions; doctors and health care practitioners; economists and workers; parents and New York City Council Members will rally for paid sick days on the steps of City Hall at 12 pm on Wednesday. The group, organized by the New York Paid Leave Coalition, will call on City Council to pass the Paid Sick Time Act (Int 0097-2012), which would ensure that 1.5 million New Yorkers without access to paid sick days are able to take time off when they or their families are ill.

Council Members Gale A. Brewer and Julissa Ferreras will co-host the rally, which will also be attended by many of the bill's 35 co-sponsors. Labor leaders, including 1199 President George Gresham and Central Labor Council President Vinny Alvarez, as well as a large crowd of union members and working New Yorkers will demonstrate their support. Immigrant and small business members of Make the Road NY, alongside leaders of the Working Families Party, NYCLU, SEIU Healthcare, Community Service Society, A Better Balance and dozens of other coalition supporters, will also be in attendance.

As numerous studies show the positive impact that paid sick days have on businesses and the economy, cities and states have been adopting paid sick days policies to help improve public health and bolster the economic recovery over the past year. Economists[1] say job retention policies like paid sick days help reduce unemployment and strengthen economic recovery. San Francisco, which has had a paid sick days law for four years, was rated by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2011 as one of the top cities in the world to do business, and more than two in three San Francisco businesses[2] support the local law with six in seven reporting no negative impact on profitability.

WHAT: Rally for Paid Sick Days

WHO:

City Council Members Gale Brewer, Julissa Ferreras;
Labor leaders, including George Gresham, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare President and Vinny Alvarez, President of Central Labor Council;
Leaders of Make the Road NY, the Working Families Party, NYCLU, SEIU Healthcare, Community Service Society, A Better Balance, New York Communities for Change, DC 1707, UFCW, RWDSU, and Gay Men's Health Crisis
Small business owners, doctors, health care practitioners, economists, workers, and parents.

WHEN: Wednesday, January 18 at 12 p.m.

WHERE: City Hall Steps

VISUAL: Large crowd of New Yorkers rallying, holding signs reading "Paid Sick Days, NOW!"