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Title: PAID SICK DAYS FOR ALL WORKERS! Author: David Van Deusen Language: en Topics: paid sick days, Vermont, workers rights
[] Moretown VT February 2014 -We, in each of our towns and throughout
the Mad River Valley, are together a community [1]. As town meeting
approaches, I trust that all of us, regardless of our particular
political persuasions, agree. And, as a community, we do right to concur
that one does well when one’s neighbor does well.
This commitment to our friends, family and fellow residents is an old
one. When the Green Mountain Boys evicted New York land surveyors, tax
collectors and sheriffs, I do not doubt that they too were motivated by
this notion of self-preservation as inalienably linked to community;
Freedom and Unity.
More recently, we saw this belief manifest during the crisis following
Hurricane Irene. Two and one half years ago I was honored to see many of
you from Waitsfield, Warren, Duxbury, Fayston and beyond coming to lend
a hand in Moretown during our hour of need. Such acts of human
camaraderie will never be forgotten. In essence, Vermont has a long and
proud history of people reaching out in solidarity when their neighbors
could use a hand. We are, in a word, a people who embrace and honor the
core value associated with the very notion of community as the
foundation upon which rests the prosperity of the individual.
Today, we can and do express our sense of community, not only in time of
crisis, but also through a maturing social compact which gives form to
the worth and well-being of our fellow citizens. Maintaining and
improving an equitable education system that gives support to children
and families is one such expression. Creating a Vermont controlled
health care system that provides insurance and quality medical care
regardless of job or lot in life is also such an expression.
Guaranteeing that all working Vermonters are afforded the right to
accrue paid sick days is yet another.
It is for these reasons that I support H.208, a bill currently in the
Vermont House of Representatives that would guarantee all Vermonters the
right to earn up to seven sick days in a given year. As your neighbor, I
encourage you to support this noble effort too.
The fact is, all people get sick some time or another, most of us a few
times a year. When this happens, when one has a fever, one should be
able to stay home for a day and get better. And if your kid is home
sick, and if both parents have to work, one parent should be afforded
the economic ability to care for the child during that time of need. How
could one begin to construct a moral argument against this statement?
Either we are a community, and therefore embody the core truth inherent
in the principle which is Vermont, or we are not. I assert that we are
Vermonters.
However, the reality is that thousands of low-income people in these
green hills do not have any paid sick days. When they get sick, they
often must make a hard decision: work while their body and mind are
turned against them, or stay home and miss one fifth of their weekly
pay. For the many, this one few-and-far-between unpaid sick day means
the phone will be shut off; the rent will be late; the kids will miss a
meal. For those that do work when they are ill, not only does their
productivity go down, but they typically infect their co-workers which,
in turn, makes productivity sink measurably lower. Therefore, as a
community and as Vermonters, it is absurd to maintain a status quo which
serves no human, neighborly or long-term interest. For these and other
reasons, H.208 (paid sick days) is supported by both Vermont Businesses
for Social Responsibility and organized labor.
As a resident of Moretown, as part of the broader Valley community, I
encourage all of you to take a moment to reflect on this human issue. I
encourage you to express your support for H.208. I also encourage our
two state representatives, Maxine Grad and Adam Greshin, to actively
support this bill with no exemptions. I also call upon our governor and
Washington County Senate delegation to likewise support this
legislation. By doing so, they will all be casting a vote in favor of
the Valley’s working families and in line with Vermont’s long tradition
of valuing our community over short term and private interests. After
all, one does well, when one’s neighbor does well.
Chair of the Moretown Progressive Party Caucus. He is a former Moretown
Selectman & co-founded the Green Mountain Anarchist Collective in 2000.
[1] This article was first printed in the Times Argus, February, 2014.
Legislation mandating that all Vermont workers have the right to accrue
up to 40 hours of paid sick leave passed the VT General Assembly and was
signed into law by Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin in 2016.