Coalition Seeks to Put Earned Sick Time on the 2016 Ballot (video)

Coalition Seeks to Put Earned Sick Time on the 2016 Ballot (video)
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Oct. 20, 2015)
The MI Time to Care Coalition held a panel discussion in Pontiac on Oct. 16 to introduce their plan to put the requirement for Earned Sick Days on the ballot statewide in 2016.
The initiative would require businesses to provide employees the opportunity to accrue sick time based on the number of hours they work. For employers with ten or more employees this would be at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked. For those with fewer employees the time would add up more slowly.
While many manufacturing and higher wage jobs have sick time, most lower-paying service jobs do not. This means that people who work with food, with children, and with the sick or elderly in service jobs are not in the position to stay home if they are ill.

“46% of Michigan [private sector] workers do not have the ability to take off work,” said Phillis Jacobs of Mothering Justice, which is a partner in the coalition. “A lot of people think this is a luxury. In my opinion, this is what we need to take care of ourselves.”
Tameka Ramsey of the Economic Justice Alliance of Michigan was shocked when her son told her he was stuck at work sick and was not able to go home. “I really didn’t think it was a big issue because every job that I have had has earned paid sick days,” Ramsey said. “But once you get to speaking with some of the restaurant workers, a lot of day care workers, a lot of parents who send sick children to school, restaurant workers who go to work with the flu and then handle our food, I saw that it was a very big need.”
The goal of the MI Time to Care Coalition is to get 350,000 signatures by Feb. 2016 in order go on the Nov. 2016 ballot. They are also seeking volunteers, organizational partners, and funding.
Another partner in the coalition is Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan, or ROC. This is an organization that does safe food handling training and works with restaurants to encourage practices that are beneficial both to employers and to employees.
For Graham Kovich of ROC, the issue is not just about workers’ rights, it’s a matter of public safety. He spoke about the way illness can spread in a restaurant environment, especially when workers with problems such as pink eye or diarrhea do not call in or go home. He argued that earned sick days make the public more comfortable dining out, make for better productivity, and encourage retention in staff.
Pontiac Councilperson Kermit Williams, who hosted the Oct. 16 Deli & Discussion talk at Buckner’s Café brought up what he felt might make this an uphill battle. “The people you’re representing with this ballot initiative are the least likely to vote,” he said.
The Coalition’s response is to work on voter mobilization, as well as letting people know that when sick people go to work sick, the impact is further reaching than just the sick individual. “We all go out to eat,” Kovich said.
To learn more about the Coalition and how to get involved go to www.mitimetocare.org.

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