Wired Beans Cafe Will Host Rally for Earned Sick Days

The following is a press release from the Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces.

Residents of Northwest Philadelphia will hold a press conference on Tuesday morning at the Wired Beans Café at 10 a.m. to call on City Council to pass the Healthy Families and Workplaces Bill, which is up for a vote on Thursday this week. The bill, which would ensure that 123,900 Philadelphians who do not have access to paid sick time are able to take time off when they or their families are ill, is being supported by small business owners, workers, doctors, health care practitioners, economists, parents and already has eight Philadelphia City Council sponsors, including Councilwoman Cindy Bass of Philadelphia’s 8^th District. 

The Wired Beans Café has long supported earned paid sick days, and will be joined by representatives from the National Organization for Women, AFSCME, Fight for Philly, Action United PAC, voters from the district and other community members.  The event is being organized by the Coalition for Healthy Families and Workplaces.  

Without paid sick time, many Philadelphians are forced to go to work sick rather than lose a day’s pay or their jobs. The Center for Disease Control estimates that 7 million Americans were infected by co-workers who went to work sick during the 2009 H1N1 outbreak.  According to an October 2012 report by the Restaurant Opportunities Center, more than 92 percent of the workers in Philadelphia’s booming restaurant industry are unable to earn paid sick time.  Of the nearly 65 percent of restaurant workers who admitted to working while sick, more than 70 percent said they had no choice because they could not afford to miss a day’s wages.