Thursday, October 26, 2007

Vote may bring more sick days

By Howard Wilkinson

Cincinnati Enquirer

When Ohio voters go to the polls next fall to elect a president, they may also end up giving themselves a bonus - a guarantee of at least seven paid sick days a year from their employers.

Earlier this year, Ohio labor unions kick-started a petition-initiative movement for the Ohio Healthy Families Act, a bill that would require Ohio businesses with 25 or more employees to give their workers seven sick days a year - sick days that could be used not only when they get ill, but when their children, parents or spouses are sick.

It could have an enormous impact - about 2.2 million Ohio workers, including about 300,000 in the Cincinnati area, have no paid sick leave now, according to Ohioans for Healthy Families, the organization pushing the bill.

"Not having paid sick time is an obvious problem for low-income workers, who often have to choose between their jobs and their children," said Dale Butland, spokesman for the campaign, which came to Cincinnati Thursday as part of a statewide tour. "But many middle-income and even upper-income people are in the same situation."

The National Federation of Independent Businesses, an organization of small-business owners, has vowed to fight the measure in Ohio and a number of other states where similar measures are on the ballot or before the legislature.

"This kind of government interference isn't needed," said Ty Pine, NFIB's Ohio legislative director.

"It's the government telling employees that you may rather have more vacation time, higher pay or more investment by your employer into your health care plan, but you have to take this. It's anti-worker and anti-choice."

No laws now in Ohio set minimum sick days - but an estimated 58 percent of Ohio employees do have paid sick days, according to Policy Matters Ohio, a liberal-leaning think tank.

Workers with sick leave take an average of 3.9 days off a year for their own illnesses, plus 1.7 days for sick family members, according to the group.

Labor unions started the campaign, but have been joined by a coalition of 130 religious, civic, political and social-service organizations around the state.

Representatives of several of the groups came Thursday to Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Cincinnati to raise awareness for the organization's petition campaign.

The coalition has gathered the signatures of about 140,000 Ohio voters and expects to present the Ohio Healthy Families Act to the Ohio General Assembly in January.

"If it goes before the voters, there's every reason to believe it will pass, because all the polling shows enormous support for this idea," Butland said.