Public Employee Press

Coalition presses Albany for
family/medical leave with pay

Gwen Turner of MTA Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1655 can talk about the need for a paid Family and Medical Leave Act from sad, personal experience. Her daughter, a Corrections Officer and the mother of six, had an aneurysm, followed by an operation and lost her short-term memory.

Turner stepped in to care for her family and quickly used up all her sick and vacation days. Then she took the leave time allowed under the FMLA — all unpaid time.

“I’ve worked for 32 years,” she said. “My daughter worked for 20. Is this is the best we can do when an illness strikes?”

The Turner family is not alone. Since President Clinton signed the FMLA into law in 1993, over 50 million Americans have taken leave under the Act. The need is expected to soar as the U.S. population ages. Nearly one in three people under 60 expect that they will have to care for an older relative in the next decade.

DC 37 is an active member of the New York Union Child Care Coalition, which is campaigning to enact a paid FMLA in New York State. According to Assistant Director Moira Dolan of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., the total cost is far from prohibitive.

“The Paid Family and Medical Leave Coalition did a study last year estimating the cost of the paid FMLA for up to 12 weeks at 27 cents per worker per week or $14.33 per worker annually,” she said.

On June 24, the last day of the legislative session, the state Assembly passed a paid FMLA bill (A1301). Fact sheets and other materials are available for activists who want to get involved in this year’s campaign to pass similar legislation in the Senate.

You can get involved now
The coalition is seeking union members who have had to care for a sick child or relative without compensation from their job. If you want to share your story and put it to good use to help other families, or if you would like to get active in the campaign, contact Sonte DuCote at 212-494-0544.