Democrats are seizing on the fight for mandatory paid leave in the United States as their next big pocketbook issue.We can only imagine how many companies will not hire women of child bearing age if this law got passed.
The Obama administration has for months called upon Congress to require employers to offer paid leave, with Labor Secretary Tom Perez relentlessly pressing the case to anyone who will listen.
And while potential Democratic presidential candidates, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), have voiced support for the proposal, the party has yet to elevate paid leave to the top tier of its policy agenda.
That will soon change, according to Democratic operatives, administration officials and others on the political left.
“It’s a big issue in our economy — and if you’re not paying attention to it now, you will be,” said Elizabeth Shuler, AFL-CIO secretary treasurer. “2016 will be the year people start making it a pillar of their economic platform.”
Out of 185 countries and territories in the world surveyed by the International Labor Organization, the United States is one of only two that does not offer paid maternity leave. Papua New Guinea is the other.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Dems’ next big issue: Mandatory Paid Leave
The Hill reports:
