What Children Need from Their Parents

1
What Children Need fromTheir Parents Employers

• Ellen Bravo
• Multi-State Working Families Consortium
• Presentation for BUILD Conference
• November 16, 2006

2
Being a Good Family Member Can Cost You Your Job

• Not enough time to care children suffer
• Affects many, but especially low-wage

3
Time to Care

• More than balance basics
• More than stress crisis
• Race as well as class
• Consequences for kids
• Affects women most, but low-wage men, too.

4
Background 1978

• Pregnancy Discrimination Act
• cant fire women for being pregnant but you
  dont have to hold their jobs.
• pregnancy like other temporary disabilities but
  most women work for firms with no short-term
  disability plans.

5
Problems with FMLA
6
Background Sick Days

• Half the workforce and ¾ of low-wage workers -
  have no paid sick days.
• Many who do cant use them to care for sick
  family members.

7
Background 1996

• Welfare as we know it is ended -- by those
  whove never known it.
• What low-wage women used for family leave
• TANF is modeled on low-wage jobs which forced
  many onto welfare.
• Cut rolls, not poverty

8
Attitudes, Assumptions

• Aha moments in Across the Boundaries study of
  low-wage workers
• Do you have any idea what my life is like?

9
Institutional Policies and Practices

• Lack of Policies
• If the kids are sick, theres no place for them
  to go. The child care center called and said I
  had to get my daughter. I was fired.
• -DeNice, rural county outside Eau Claire, WI

10
Problem Policies Contd

• Lack of Flexibility
• Not allowed to make up time
• Rigid use of personal days

• At the fringes
• Even best list companies fall short
• Policies for managers only (e.g., lactation)
• Depends on manager discretion

11
Problem Practices Contd

• Objective requirements affecting women
  differently
• Example no tolerance for lateness
• Based on stereotyped view of ideal worker as
  someone with car, phone, back-up

12
Reality for Low-Wage Workers

• I had 4 jobs - I drove a school bus, delivered
  newspapers, worked with the Girl Scouts, and sold
  Tupperware. None of the jobs had benefits.
• I had to make hard choices about supporting my
  kids instead of spending time with them. When my
  toddler was sick, I took her with me on the bus.
  
• - Julia, Milwaukee

13
Affects Men As Well

• Low-wage men, especially men of color, have least
  flexible jobs
• Many more would be good fathers if not punished
  at work

14
Impact on Parents and Kids

• Work cant pay if it doesnt last and it cant
  last if it jeopardizes kids.
• Cost of starting over.

15
Impact on Children

• Lack of bonding time for infants
• Kids go to day care sick.
• Kids send themselves to school sick.
• Health and learning problems become disabilities.

16
Whats at Stake for Low-Wage Workers

• High cost of being poor
• Ability to keep a job, build assets
• Well-being of children and families job
  churning contributes to highest child poverty
  rate in industrialized world

17
Guarantee for All

• Some smart employers will do this on their own.
• Not all like asking 2-year-olds to determine
  when they need a time out.

18
Solutions Public Policy Changes

• Family Flexibility
• Make leave more accessible
• Make leave more affordable
• Guarantee paid sick days
• Keep consideration for chronic conditions
• Expand definition of family

19
Multi-State Working Families Consortium

• Eight state coalitions California, Georgia,
  Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,
  Washington and Wisconsin
• Collaborating for more effective action, raise
  public awareness.

20
Where We Are Now Opportunities

• Reframe the Debate
• Values caring, responsibility, opportunity
• Who really values families
• Put kids in the center rather than the fringes.

21
Making Progress in the States

• Winning forms of paid leave
• expanding TDI to include family leave
• California
• New Jersey
• New York
• creating new form of social insurance
• Washington
• Massachusetts

22
Making Progress in the States

• Making progress on guaranteeing protection
• Sick days
• San Francisco, Madison
• Massachusetts
• All of us
• Family Care
• Maine
• FMLA for school/day care activities
• Georgia
• Wisconsin

23
Increased Collaboration

• Connecting the dots
• Labor . Women . Childrens groups .
  Progressive employers . Family physicians .
  Faith-based . Disabilities groups .
  Chronic disease . Alzheimers Associations .
  AIDS groups . Mental health organizations
  . PTAs . Principals . School boards
  . Social workers . Cities/counties groups
  . Citizen Action . Welfare
  rights/anti-poverty groups . Aging groups .
  Foster children . Work-family researchers
  . Legal groups . Parents of adult disabled
  . Adoption groups . Immigrant advocates .
  Groups in communities of color . Human
  Rights groups . Non-profit associations .
  Insurers . Womens business associations .
  AAUW . YWCA . Planned Parenthood .
  MomsRising

24
New Opportunities

• Lay the groundwork for policy change.
• Redefining issues linking what happens to kids,
  families with what happens to parents at work.