A White House Summit on Working Families Monday focused attention on a workplace policy where the US stands in a league of its own: America is the only advanced economy without a legal provision for paid maternity leave.
President Obama said it’s time to change that as well as other policies in a bid to make the American workplace better for families. He also called for steps to expand paid sick leave, flexible work schedules, and access to affordable child care.
The Monitor goes on to point out that polls show overwhelming support for paid maternity leave, and for businesses to provide flexible hours so that workers can meet family needs, so long as they still complete their work.
It is pretty clear that Obama is trying to create a template for Democrats to use in future elections, while also cornering the female vote.
I firmly believe that if President Obama were eligible for a third term he would win by an even larger margin than the last as he has certainly become the hands down champion for the workers, for the gay community, for women, and for just about every minority you could mention.
Essentially the only demographic that would come out strongly against him are middle aged men, Fundamentalists, and Ammosexuals.
And if Hillary is smart she will take up where the President left off and use this momentum to ride into an easy victory in 2016. However if she moves too far toward the middle in order to woo a demographic that will never vote for her anyway she risks losing the ground that Obama has won for the Democratic party.
I have to admit I do have that fear sometimes.
I worry about Hillary's working against her. Charismatic she isn't. She may be knowledgeable as hell, but approachable and caring she also isn't.
ReplyDeleteGiven the choices, 3:19 PM, I'd rather take the chance on Hillary than the alternatives. Beats the skeletor know-nothing you support that can't ever run again, speaking of rats asses and hook-line-sinker. Keep sending that milk money.
Delete5:05 why are you folks so stupid to think a anti-Hillary people would be pro-Palin, who isnt even going to be anywhere near the ballot? The world isn't that black and white. Honestly- open your minds, and your eyes, dum dum. And face it, Hillary is not going to be president.
DeleteI'm sorry I mistook you for a troll, 5:52 PM. In actuality, I don't think she will be either. To tell you the truth, 2016 scares the shit out of me.
DeleteI'd have to respectfully disagree.
Delete"The Monitor goes on to point out that polls show overwhelming support for paid maternity leave, and for businesses to provide flexible hours so that workers can meet family needs, so long as they still complete their work"
"So long as they still complete their work" are the operative words. I've raised kids while working and always carried more than my load, and then some.
Sorry, this was in reply to 4:46's comment below
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to offer my take on this and I know in advance that I am in the minority, so here goes. This is bullshit. Having a child is a choice. I am a single and childfree by choice. I'm okay with this if and only if, those of us that choose not to have children and/or men are offered that same opportunity to take the same amount of time off and get paid just like those women on maternity leave. I have busted my ass to pick up the slack for co-workers that have babies and I don't get paid for all the extra work and time I have to put in to carry the load now dumped on me. I'd love to have a 3 month paid sabbatical to use as I see fit. Don't give me the whole" it's not a vacation" bullshit either.
ReplyDeleteActually I agree with you. We had a girl in our office who has two grade school kids, one with special needs that she ADOPTED. Problem was she wouldn't come in to work when the boys have a day off from school, had a snow day etc. She said she refuses to put them in day care. She also worked it with the boss so she could leave in the middle of the afternoon while the rest of us had to work till closing time. Because of this she was not getting her work done, even dropped the ball on a major client and I had to bail her out. Needless to say she's no longer with the company.
Delete4:46- I'm with you 100,000 percent. It's bullshit and it is pandering. Why should single folks who are responsible enough to not have families if the time isn't right, or just by choice, essentially have to pick up the slack for, and pay for (that paid time off is being paid for and worked by someone) professional baby makers. It is bad enough now without even additional laws in place. So many excuses (leaving early, arriving late, leaving projects half done) by those with kids- hey- thier not my f-ing kids.
DeleteI had my children in the mid-80's and had six weeks maternity leave with both. Period. I was lucky to have that!. Did everything I could that I would never miss time because of them through the years. If those are the women you work around, they're lazy asses and discredit us who take out jobs and our kids seriously.
DeleteWow! You folks are probably against universal healthcare too. After all, "why should I pay for someone else?" If you have a problem with a mother (arguably the MOST important job) taking time off when her kid is sick and making you handle her work, then take it up with your boss. And you can bet that when YOU are sick, she has to do the same thing.
DeleteHonestly! I just can't believe how selfish and self-centered some folks are.
It's called compassion, Maple. Some have it, some don't! I appreciate that Gryph posts women's issues here and lets everyone voice their opinion. He is both Mom AND Dad to his daughter. Those that don't live it will never understand how hard some of us work.
DeleteMaple@6:51 BIG difference here. These women CHOOSE to get pregnant, I do not choose to get sick. I love President Obama, but I have to disagree with him on this one. And why should women who can't or don't want kids or whose kids are grown be discriminated against. BTW I support universal health care.
DeleteTo 4:46 PM and SPHASH: As rules go for the majority, unless you have the vacation time or go without wages, your time is accrued to sick leave, even you're lucky to have that, until it runs out. Don't think that these women are given special rights by any means It's not any different than if you had an accident that laid you up.
DeleteIt's not any different than if you had an accident that laid you up? Huh? What 7:38? These absolutely are special rights that the government would like to force on private employers, and everyone else pays for it, you should be able to run your company any way you want, employees don't like it, they can leave.
Delete@8:25PM: You're joking, of course. Unless you actually think it's perfectly all right to be fired at the mere whim of your employer, maybe because he doesn't like the clothes you wear, or the house you live in, or the thoughts you espouse in the lunchroon, or to not get the job because you're the wrong colour, religion etc. Or gee, maybe asbestos was found in the peeling ceiling of your office, but the employer says, too bad, so you'll get lung cancer, see if I care.
DeleteGet real, 8:25PM. Or maybe you'd like to lose the right to sue when the office ceiling falls on your head and breaks your neck.
Well, 8:25 PM, then work for someone whose rules are, whether the government says you can or cannot discriminate on women with children, do anyway! I fought HARD to make sure, even though I chose to have children, I was right back in as soon as I could and worked appts around it. You're barking up the wrong tree, girlfriend.
DeleteThank you, Maple. Holy CRAP.
Delete8:57's the examples you bring up are on the incredibly stupid side of completely and totally irrellevent to this subject. You are really just that dumb I take it.
DeleteHey 8:57 and 8:57 and 9:22- maybe the government should just take over all aspects of privately run businesses, total government takeover, then we will really show those communists what makes this country great right?
DeleteWhat a bunch of mean-spirited people here! Other countries provide decent family leaves, sick leaves, vacation time, etc. Why can't we? You all sound like the GOP in Congress - no compassion and no sense of "we're all in this together." Just because you only got a six-week maternity leave, why not celebrate the idea that mothers (and fathers perhaps) will one day have three-month or six-month maternity leaves? Why be afraid to move forward and make things better for families? We should, as a nation, do a lot better.
DeleteBeaglemom
Original poster here. I have nothing against sick time taken off to care for a sick child. Long term care is called FMLA, which I have no problem with. It's unpaid. No one chooses to get sick. What I have a problem with are the only people that benefit from this would be women having babies. It's bad enough now, but if companies now have to pay these women, there is no way I will ever manage to get the temp worker I was fortunately to have on a part time basis that last time she went on maternity leave. Offer a 3 mos sabbatical to ALL EMPLOYEES and I am with you. I am tired as fuck of people with children just assuming they are some how better than me and their lives are more important because they have a family. And to answer the idiot above. I long for universal healthcare. If if started today I still wouldn't happen soon enough for me.
DeleteSounds as though you'd prefer if NONE of your co-workers had children. Poof! Problem solved! And yet, no children means no future adults paying taxes to keep your roads paved, your air traffic employees working, your auto workers making cars for you to drive well into your dotage.
DeleteFace it -- we ALL make sacrifices to ensure the common good. If you're not willing to, then move to another country that will better appreciate your self-centeredness.
Maple- Sounds actually like you are the one who should move to, say Cuba, or North Korea, or China where it is all for the common good. By the way, your arguments and powers of reasoning are astoundingly on the lower scale of dumb.
DeleteThat's right -- when you don't have the facts or even morality on your side, throw in some insults to try and make your point.....smh.
DeleteI have nothing against women having babies. I do have a problem with people who abuse the system. My ex-co worker would leave at 2:30 pm everyday during the school year to pick up her kids from school. Our office closes at 5. It would not have killed her kids to spend a few hours a day at daycare. She also had to stay home with them during vacations, snow days, teacher workshops etc. And during the summer she wouldn't come in until the afternoon cuz she had to chauffeur the kids to their sports practices. How about having their dad or another sports mom do it? And she wouldn't even come in on Mondays and Fridays in the summer. Another co-worker also has two kids one a toddler the other an infant, works at home (she lives in another state) and she has no problem sending them to daycare when needed. In the business I work in you need full time workers cuz when your clients call asking for you and your never there they will go somewhere else. And working part time your not going to get your work done. It wasn't fair for her to expect the rest of us to bail her out.
DeleteThere will always be folks who abuse (or at least try to) the system. Sounds to me as though your beef should be with this person's manager, for letting her get away with that.
DeleteAccording to a new report from Roll Call, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is considering a lawsuit that would challenge the executive actions that President Barack Obama has been using on a variety of issues that have otherwise stalled in Congress.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/online/boehner-threatens-lawsuit-against-obama-administration/
ReplyDeleteJohn Boehner and House Republicans Are Suing Obama For Being President
By: Jason Easley more from Jason Easley
Tuesday, June, 24th, 2014, 6:39 pm
Print Friendly
obama-boehner
Instead of creating jobs or passing legislation, Speaker of the House John Boehner announced today that House Republicans are suing President Obama using his presidential power to issue executive orders.
Boehner told House Republicans that he will be announcing within days, or maybe next week, that the House, a.k.a. House Republicans, will be suing President Obama over his use of executive orders.
According to Roll Call:
http://www.politicususa.com/2014/06/24/john-boehner-house-republicans-suing-obama-president.html
Of course the Republicans in Congress have done absolutely NOTHING positive since January 2009. Maybe we can sue them. Our representative, Dan Benishek, ran originally in 2010 promising jobs, jobs, jobs. Then he and his GOP pals did nothing to promote employment and did everything possible to hurt as many people as possible along the way. It's not President Obama who doesn't know his job, it's the GOP in Congress! Let's fire as many as possible in November!
DeleteBeaglemom
I love this man, and WHY nothing will ever be passed to help our American citizenry, male and female alike.
ReplyDeleteHe's RIGHT. And he's (half) BLACK.
2014 Dick Cheney Does Not Want You To Listen To 1994 Dick Cheney (VIDEO)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/06/24/2014-dick-cheney-does-not-want-you-to-listen-to-1994-dick-cheney-video/
I worked for the same company for 25 years, the original owner already had a lot of these things in place, but then she was a woman with children and understood. We even had a lounge for breast feeding and pumping and men had the same maternity leave. I had a company car and worked my way to two month's vacation. The new owners took over, and everything changed for the worse. I still get well compensated, but they make the work environment so miserable, we lost a lot of our workers due to stress and conflicts with the new owners.
ReplyDeleteThe better you treat your workers, especially the ones who bring in the profits, the better your bottom line will be.
I have to give POTUS Obama a lot of credit for taking this issue up.
WELL said.
DeleteMaybe you should start your own company and run it the way you want to, if you don't like it there anymore, quit. It's not your company! The fed's have no business involving themselves.
DeleteThen find a company, 8:21 PM, where you can be as big a dick as those who run it.
DeleteI'm one who's still working and bringing in the profits, doing my share of work and managing others. The perks we lost have become part of my compensation for staying, not jumping ship and whining because things changed.
DeleteCompanies don't keep people around for 25 years for keeping a chair warm, just saying.