Exiting news on the SEIU political front!!!!!! Giddya...
Saturday, April 14, 2007 3:44 AM
By Alan Johnson and Jim Siegel
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Ohioans who work for companies with 25 or more employees would get at least
seven sick days under a proposal that could appear on the November 2008
statewide ballot.
Such an issue could have major implications for the presidential election in
Ohio, with an effect similar to minimum-wage issues credited with boosting
turnout in the Buckeye State and elsewhere last year.
It also would underscore an emerging trend of using ballot issues to bolster
the number of voters going to the polls. In 2004, a state issue defining
marriage as solely between a man and a woman was credited by many as the
reason George W. Bush won a second term.
The sick-day measure is being pushed by Service Employees International
Union District 1199, which submitted a petition with 1,800 names to Attorney
General Marc Dann on April 6. The union represents 28,000 health-care and
social-service workers in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.
If at least 1,000 of the signatures are deemed valid and the language
approved by Dann and the Ohio Ballot Board, the next step will be gathering
120,683 valid signatures of registered voters required to submit the Ohio
Healthy Families Act issue to the General Assembly next year.
"Workers should not have to choose between a paycheck and recovery when they
get sick," the union said in a statement, noting that 48 percent of
private-sector workers and 79 percent of what it defined as low-wage workers
have no sick days.
Ty Pine, legislative director for the National Federation of Independent
Business/Ohio, said the proposal is not a good idea because companies
already may offer higher pay or an extra week of vacation instead of seven
paid sick days.
"When you do these types of one-size-fits-all mindless petitions that sound
good to the voters, you remove all that flexibility not just for employers
but for employees who are looking for different options in the workplace,"
Pine said.
"If I've got to pay people paid time off, great. Last year, they got two
weeks of vacation, this year, they get one. Or I paid $23 an hour in the
past, and I pay $20 now."
If the proposal is approved, companies with at least 25 employees would be
required to give employees seven sick days. Part-time workers would get a
prorated number of days.
Employees could opt to use sick time for themselves, a child, parent or
spouse. Physical and mental illness would be covered, as well as injuries,
other medical conditions and preventive care.
The union said it would work with a "broad-based coalition" on the
sick-leave campaign.
Under the same process a coalition used last year to win passage of a
statewide indoor smoking ban, once the 120,000-plus signatures are gathered,
the "initiated statute" must be submitted to the legislature at the start of
a new year, in this case January 2008. Lawmakers then have four months to
enact the proposal as written, amend and pass it, or take no action.
If backers of the proposal are dissatisfied, they can submit a supplemental
petition with another 120,683 valid signatures to put the issue on the
statewide ballot.
While no other states have approved a sick-leave requirement, New Jersey,
Washington and Illinois have introduced legislation, and Oregon, Texas and
Massachusetts are considering it, the union said. One city, San Francisco,
has a mandatory sick-leave law.
Keith Dailey, a spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland, said the governor has not
reviewed the proposal.
Dispatch reporter Mark Niquette contributed to this story.