Why Pittsburgh needs paid sick leave

“Sam the Snot” and many others line up to speak at the Jul. 30 Pittsburgh City Council hearing on paid sick leave
(photo via Women and Girls Foundation)

Pittsburgh City Council has now passed a bill to guarantee paid sick leave for all Pittsburgh workers.

Thanks to a well-organized and spirited campaign by Pittsburgh UNITED (a coalition of which Just Harvest is a member) and to the engagement of more than 25 Pittsburgh community, faith, and labor organizations as well as the support of a number of City Council members (Corey O’Connor, Natalia Rudiak, Dan Gilman, Deb Gross, and Bruce Kraus), the bill went from proposal to passage in less than two months. The vote was 7-1-1 (seven for with Dan Lavelle voting against and Darlene Harris abstaining); Mayor Bill Peduto says he intends to sign it into law soon.

The facts cited in the language of the bill make clear why paid sick leave should be required for the 50,000 Pittsburgh workers who don’t have it:

• Approximately 40% of Pittsburgh’s private sector workers do not have access to paid sick time, while approximately 77% of the city’s service workers, especially food service workers and healthcare workers, lack access to paid sick time.
• Access to paid sick days benefits working families, as it affords parents the time to tend to their sick children without sacrificing a day’s pay or fear of losing their job, thereby helping to prevent delayed medical treatment to children and possible hospitalizations.
• Many of the workforce members who lack access to paid sick days frequently have contact with the general public, posing a high public health risk and increasing the likelihood of transmission of communicable illnesses.

There are many reasons why businesses would benefit from a paid sick leave policy, including improved employee job performance and loyalty, and decreased illness and turnover. Yet the bill was opposed by some local businesses and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette printed a staff editorial criticizing the measure, though they also printed our letter rejecting their rationale.

Any changes to a workplace are difficult. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be made. All the gains won by the labor movement in the 20th century – like a 40-hour work week, fair wages, and health and retirement benefits – were what built this country’s middle class.

So how will this bill affect nonprofits like Just Harvest? What follows is our operations manager Ken Munz’s testimony at the hearing for the bill last week:

In many ways, we are very much like any other small or medium-size business in Pittsburgh. It isn’t easy to balance our budget; we face constant competitive pressures for revenue on the one hand, and to recruit and retain outstanding employees on the other.

Just Harvest Operations Manager Ken Munz testifying at the paid sick leave hearing
(photo via One Pittsburgh)

We pinch our pennies, so we are not eager to see mandates that cause unexpected increases in our costs.Currently, we have 14 permanent employees, all of whom receive paid sick leave as a standard benefit. But we also have 3 part-time seasonal employees right now, who work for us without this benefit. During our tax assistance season, we have 11 more seasonal workers who work without paid sick leave or other benefits.

These workers are the friendly faces you see at the farmer’s markets making it possible for people to shop there with credit cards, debit cards and food stamps. These are the workers that help over 2700 low income families prepare their taxes for free. So far this year, these seasonal, no-benefit workers have put in a combined 3,325 hours of work.

Providing them with paid sick days, won’t be the easiest thing in the world for us. But if you pass this legislation, we will manage to do it.

Don’t be misled by doomsday claims that this will cost jobs, or that it will drive small businesses out of the city,or that it will push profit margins past the breaking point. At Just Harvest, it might be a challenge, but we’ll make it happen.

Don’t compromise away the effectiveness of this bill to meet the unjustified fears and claims of its opponents. San Francisco passed a similar ordinance 8 years ago. Last year, the senior vice president for public policy of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce told the New York Times that “by and large, this has not been an employer issue.” If I’m not mistaken, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, and the entire state of Connecticut – all of which have paid sick day laws – still have plenty of restaurants and small businesses and nonprofit employers.

This ordinance is not merely a good thing to do. It is, in fact, good for business, good for workers, good for customers, and good for our community. Our seasonal workers will be better for it. And our clients and customers will be confident that the Just Harvest staff people they meet didn’t crawl out of a sick bed to serve them. And that will make us a better organization, even if it sometimes costs us a little.”