Advocates for paid sick leave press Duluth city leaders
Duluth officials continue to hear from groups that would have the city bring paid sick leave to greater numbers of people who work in the city.
With Minneapolis about to rule on sick leave reform for its workers, and St. Paul possible to follow, Duluth finds itself in the eye of a special interest campaign aimed at policy change at the city government level.
On Tuesday, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research and TakeAction Minnesota of Duluth released data analysis that showed while more than half of the workers in Duluth benefit from paid sick leave, nearly 20,000 workers (46 percent) are without the added benefit. Even Duluth’s 54 percent of workers with paid sick leave would fall short of a 2015 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report that found 65 percent of American workers received paid sick leave.
“We are aware of the interest for a citywide ordinance,” said Mayor Emily Larson in a statement released to the News Tribune on Tuesday. “This is an important communitywide issue needing a broader community conversation, and I welcome that opportunity in the coming months.”
While men and women in Duluth benefitted at the same 54 percent rate of access to paid sick benefits, low-income and part-time workers were the most likely to go unprotected, said the new report.
“That’s particularly striking when the lowest-paid workers are the least able to take unpaid time off when they’re sick,” said Jessica Milli, study director of the Institute of Women’s Police Research based in Washington, D.C. “They have no other options; they have to pay the bills.”
City councilors have yet to weigh in on the overtures and did not respond to a News Tribune inquiry immediately after Tuesday’s news. Last week, a coalition of Duluth agencies called Vision Duluth requested publically that the City Council draft and approve an ordinance requiring employers to offer paid sick time to employees.
According to the new report on access to paid sick time in Duluth, workers with 35 or fewer hours per week and those who made less than $35,000 annually were less likely to receive paid sick leave than those who worked more hours and earned higher wages. Workers who made less than $35,000 earned sick leave 59 percent of the time compared to 80 percent rates and up for higher earners. Part-time workers under 35 hours per week got paid sick leave 21 percent of the time compared to 70 percent for workers who put in more than 35 hours per week. The Institute agreed in a phone conference that those numbers followed suit with national trends.
Taking into account only people who work in Duluth regardless of where they live, the Institute analyzed government data sources, including the 2012-14 National Health Interview Survey and the 2012-14 American Community Survey, to reach its conclusions.
“Access to earned sick and safe time helps prevent turnover and is also a huge morale booster,” said Katie Humphrey of the North East Area Labor Council, a broad coalition that represents 40,000 workers throughout St. Louis County and the greater Arrowhead region. “When people take care of themselves they’re typically more productive and excited to work.”
Humphrey said that initial meetings have taken place with many city councilors, though attempts to reach the mayor’s office have produced nothing so far.
At her State of the City address in April, Larson named the issue of safe and sick time and she committed to ensuring that all qualified city of Duluth staff are provided the benefit, including those not covered by collective bargaining agreements. But she kept her comments to city staff only.
In Minneapolis, the City Council will vote Friday on a mandate that would give the city’s workers the ability to earn sick leave with time worked — one hour of leave for every 30 hours on the job with a maximum of 48 hours, or six days, a year. The proposal would include businesses that employ six or more people. In St. Paul, a task force is reviewing a broader mandate for paid sick leave.
In a conference call with reporters, Debra Smith, 57, of Lincoln Park, said she worked for three years as a temporary office employee without paid sick time. It meant working to pay her rent and buy groceries, regardless of her family’s well-being.
Now working full time in the private sector, “Having the benefit of paid sick time off is an immense difference in my life,” she said. “I’m able to feel the assurance that I’m not going to jeopardize my employment.”
The groups say they don’t have a specific policy goal in mind for Duluth, and sounded like they would meet private and small-business owners at the table.
“We have had our eyes toward what has been happening in Minneapolis and St. Paul,” said Shawnu Ksicinski, an organizer with TakeAction in Duluth. “But we have to find a model specific to the community in Duluth, that truly respects everybody.”
