Today, Mark Petonito, owner of Petonito’s Pastry in East Haven, delivered an order of cupcakes to the legislative office building, one for every legislator. The cupcakes came with a message: Aren’t you glad these cupcakes were baked by employees with paid sick days?
Cupcake delivery
Yesterday, I looked at Connecticut’s quarterly lobbying disclosures and found something surprising, even to me.
The CBIA, the leading opposition to paid sick days legislation, has already spent over $600,000 lobbying in Hartford this year, in just three months.
The evidence, from studies and personal experiences alike, is overwhelming that paid sick days is a smart policy that protects our health and our economy. But big lobbying campaigns often distort the facts and spread misinformation to legislators.
That’s why we’re holding an expert panel discussion on paid sick days legislation at the Capitol on Tuesday morning — to make sure legislators have the facts, and not just innuendo, half-truths, misinformation and outright lies.
Will you help invite your legislators to come to the panel discussion?
Click here to invite your legislators to the expert panel discussion on paid sick days.
Want to know the facts on paid sick days? Here are a few that I think everyone should know:
• Over 400,00 employees, mostly low wage workers, lack paid sick days, with the largest concentrations in food service, retail and health care.
• In nursing homes with paid sick days, patients are 60% less likely to contract infections from the staff.
• According to the CDC, out of 21 million ‘norovirus’ outbreaks (a common food-borne virus) annual, roughly half are caused by ill food workers.
• During the H1N1 epidemic, 8 million Americans came to work while infected with the swine flue virus, and infected another 7 million people.
• A recent study found the cost to a company of providing paid sick days is just .19% (less than two tenths of one percent) of sales.
But big business wouldn’t spend so much on lobbying if they didn’t know it works. That’s why we’re bringing in the experts, including the Manager of the city of San Francisco’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement who oversaw the implementation of the city’s paid sick days law, and economists who have done extensive research into the impact of paid sick days on businesses, the economy and the public health.
We think legislators deserve to know the facts. If you do too, will you invite them to this informational expert panel on paid sick days?
Click here to invite your legislators.
Thanks for all your help. We could never stand up to big money lobbyists without your help.
A few weeks back, Working Families members participated in a major rally outside the Bank of America in downtown Hartford, along with hundreds of friends and allies. The point of the rally was that in addition to a shockingly bad record of small business lending, it turns out Bank of America paid nothing in corporate taxes to the State of Connecticut last year.
It’s astonishing. And whatever you might think about the Governor’s proposed budget, one thing is clear: if the average citizen is paying more in taxes than the Bank of America, something is wrong with this picture.
The Governor has called for shared sacrifice to help close our budget deficit. We agree. And we think it’s time for big banks and other multi-national companies to make sacrifices too and start paying their fair share of taxes.
Tomorrow, Saturday March 12th, we’re bringing rallies to Bank of America branches all around the state. I hope you’ll come to one near you.
New Haven: Long Wharf branch, 250 Sargent Drive (map)
Middletown: Main Street branch, 267 Main Street (map)
Norwich: Route 82 branch, 590 West Main Street (map)
Bridgeport: North End branch, 2500 Main Street (map)
Waterbury: Chase & Cooke branch, 992 Cooke Street (map)
Please join us. The incredible demonstrations we’ve witnessed in Wisconsin should be an inspiration to all of us. It’s time to stand up and make our voices heard here in Connecticut as well.
Below, HR professional Scott Macdonald announces the formation of the Small Business Network for Paid Sick Days to Connecticut state legislators. In the letter, Scott debunks many of the myths about paid sick days legislation.
Below, Louis Lista, owner of West Hartford’s Pond House cafe, writes a letter to the legislature about why he supports paid sick days.
With your help and support, yesterday afternoon the state legislature’s Labor Committee voted to approved the paid sick days bill. It’s just the first step, but it’s a critical one in the process of guaranteeing paid sick days.
Over the next few months, we need to keep the pressure high — not just with emails and phone calls, but in-person visits to our legislators. After all, corporate lobbyists spend every day meeting with legislators.
That’s why we’re partnering with the National Organization for Women and other groups for a Women’s Lobby Day to advocate for issues like paid sick days, women’s healthcare, and the prevention of domestic violence.
Women’s Lobby Day
Wednesday, March 9th, 1pm-3pm
Legislative Office Building, Room 1A
300 Capitol Ave, Hartford (map)
Can you be there?
Yes, I’ll be there
No, I can’t make it
Women are more likely to work in jobs that lack paid sick days. But at the same time, women remain the primary caretakers for children and other family members when they are sick. So the strain on those women is even more severe.
Whether you’re a seasoned pro who knows your legislators on a first name basis, or you’ve never been inside the Capitol before, we need your help. It’s the presence of regular women that will keep the pressure up on our legislators and help us win on paid sick days.
If you can join us Wednesday for Women’s Lobby Day, please click here to register now:
https://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1306/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=21711
If you can’t make it, you can still help by sending your legislators a message about why paid sick days are particularly critical for working women. Send your message here:
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1306/t/7778/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3168
On Tuesday morning, we’re going to kick off our campaign for paid sick days with a press conference at the Capitol. We’ll be delivering all 3,000 petition signatures to Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman to let the Malloy/Wyman administration know that the people of Connecticut stand behind their support for paid sick days.
Paid Sick Days Campaign Kick Off
Tuesday, March 1st, 10:30 AM
Hall of Flags, State Capitol
210 Capitol Ave, Hartford (map)
Can you be there?
Yes, I’ll be there
No, I can’t make it
Gov. Dan Malloy has been a strong supporter of paid sick days legislation. Delivering the petition signatures is an important way to show there’s popular support for paid sick days.
It’ll be an exciting day, and we want to back up our petition with a good crowd. It would mean a lot if you can join us.
If you can join us, please sign up here:
https://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1306/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=21536
If not, you can help by sending your legislators a message and asking them to cosponsor the paid sick days bill.
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1306/t/7778/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3167
Thanks for all your support.
When we launched an online petition for paid sick days two weeks ago, we set an ambitious goal of 1000 signatures. The response has been phenomenal. Nearly 1500 supporters from every corner of the state added their names. 500 people shared the petition on Facebook.
But while it’s cold outside, business lobbyists are already heating up their campaign against common-sense paid sick days legislation at the Capitol.
We’ll never match the money or lobbying firepower of Wal-Mart or McDonalds. But there’s one thing we have that they don’t: people like you. People with real stories about why paid sick days are so critical. And our elected officials need to hear those stories.
Can you take a moment to share with us why you support paid sick days? Just a sentence or two is fine. We’ll compile all the reasons and share them with elected officials in Hartford.
Click here to give your reasons for supporting paid sick days.
Read the rest of this post.
Last year’s federal healthcare reforms were a step forward — but they left a lot of us unsatisfied, because they didn’t do enough to rein in the big insurance companies and make health insurance more affordable.
We don’t have to wait for Congress to take up reform again. We can make healthcare fairer, smarter, and more affordable right here in Connecticut.
Please join me and hundreds of other activists (and Governor-elect Dan Malloy!) in attending an important rally for Sustinet tomorrow, sponsored by the Interfaith Fellowship for Universal Health Care.
Here are the details:
Stand for Health Care
Tuesday, Dec 14th at 5:30 p.m.
Emanuel Lutheran Church
311 Capital Avenue, Hartford (google maps)
(Across the street from the Legislative Office Building)
If you can join us, click here to sign up so I know you’re coming. And feel free to bring a friend.
It’s not every day that you take on Insurance companies and win. So get ready for this:
Yesterday afternoon, after pressure from consumers and ordinary people like you, acting Insurance Commissioner Barbara Spear Announced that she was denying Anthem’s request for a 20% rate hike.
For 48,000 Anthem individual health insurance policy holders in Connecticut, this will certainly be a welcome holiday gift. Especially after Commissioner Sullivan, who rubber-stamped 85% of all insurance increase requests (sometimes without even a public hearing) this is certainly a welcome change.
Read the rest of this post.