After a nine month effort, the Healthy Families, Healthy City campaign will pull back its effort – for now – to pass an ordinance requiring paid sick leave for Madison workers.
“For a second time, this council has refused to listen to constituents,” said Jim Cavanaugh, president of the South Central Federation of Labor. At its June 20 meeting, the Common Council voted 10-8 against putting the proposal on the ballot in an advisory vote this November.
After lengthy discussion, the campaign decided not to pursue a petition drive to get the measure on the ballot.
“This council cannot be trusted to implement the wishes of citizens, even if the referendum passed overwhelmingly,” said Cavanaugh.
The referendum would have asked: “Should the City of Madison pass a law requiring employers with at least ten employees to provide those employees working at least half-time with the ability to accrue paid sick leave to be used for personal illness or illness of a family member?”
In May, the council rejected a proposed paid sick leave ordinance on a 9-10 vote – two short of the 11 needed – after an outpouring of support in numerous hearings by low-wage workers, childcare advocates, public health workers, teachers, advocates for the homeless, and many others.
Neighborhood canvassing also generated hundreds of petition signatures and postcards to alders who apparently were not swayed by the views of their constituents.
Just before the May vote, The Capital Times reported that polling by a statewide public-interest group revealed that 81 percent of respondents in Dane County favored requiring at least one week a year of guaranteed paid sick leave (only 13 percent were against).