Coronavirus Crisis: Paid Sick Leave Is A Start To Our Collective Security As A Nation: Ady Barkan
'Coronavirus Crisis: Paid Sick Leave Is A Start To Our Collective Security As A Nation.' Forcing workers to choose between their health and their financial wellbeing would be cruel and disastrous. By Ady Barkan, The Guardian, March 19, 2020.
The coronavirus crisis is disrupting the lives of Americans in ways that most of us could not have imagined just weeks ago. But as someone who was living a nearly perfect life one day, and the next day, at age 32, was diagnosed with ALS, a debilitating disease that would give me a life expectancy of three to four years, I can say with some authority that severe disruption has the potential to bring with it unexpected clarity. As a lifelong political activist, I have devoted my life to certain progressive social justice policies and I did not expect to find new reasons to fight for them. Human rights, human dignity and personal security have long been the values at the heart of my work. But amid a pandemic, I can now add a new one: our collective security as a nation.
- Ady Barkan during the 'Summer of Heroes' bus tour.
The emergency paid sick leave passed by Democrats in Congress, though severely curtailed in scope by the White House and congressional Republicans, is a much-needed start. It is essential to allow our country’s workers to engage in the quarantine or isolation practices that will prevent the spread of the contagion while knowing they will be able to continue supporting themselves and their families. Forcing workers to choose between their health and their financial wellbeing would not only be cruel to them, it would be disastrous to the public health of our country.
But we should be honest and sober about the modesty and inadequacy of this accomplishment. First, it should not have even been necessary. Guaranteed, universal paid sick leave should have already been a fundamental part of the American social safety net, just as it is in most of the developed world. And second, what was ultimately passed under the carving knife of Republicans was not nearly enough to meet the challenges of this crisis.
In fact, the two weeks of paid sick leave guaranteed by this law will not apply to the vast majority of workers. Two gaping loopholes- one exempting businesses with more than 500 employees, and another exempting ones with fewer than 50 – means that the law will leave an astounding 80% of American workers unassisted. And the law has an expiration date of 31 December, which is far sooner than when scientists and public health officials estimate this crisis will be fully behind us. With these loopholes and shortcomings left in place, our country remains in danger.
That it took a pandemic for Congress to pass this basic benefit, while also requiring it to be watered down so extensively, reveals a grim political reality for our country: that until our political system can find a way to defeat the Republican party’s ideological aversion to the basic and humane social safety nets that exist throughout the modern developed world, we will never be a nation that can fully, competently and swiftly deal with threats to our collective national security...
More, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/19/coronavirus-crisis-paid-sick-leave-is-a-start-to-our-collective-security-as-a-nation
- Ady Barkan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ady_Barkan
(Wiki) Ady Barkan (born December 18, 1983) is an American lawyer and progressive activist. He is the co-founder of the Be a Hero PAC and is an organizer for the Center for Popular Democracy, where he led the Fed Up campaign. Ady came to notoriety in 2017 when he confronted Jeff Flake on a plane, asking him to "be a hero" and vote no on a tax bill. Barkan, who was diagnosed with the terminal neurogenerative disease ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) in 2016 shortly after the birth of his son, has been called "the most powerful activist in America."...