Action Urged To Pass Paid Sick Days

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)With a law to extend paid sick days to all DC workers in danger of being delayed again, supporters have mounted a letter-writing campaign targeting the DC City Council’s Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs. Jews United For Justice (JUFJ) and its allies are pushing for a law that extends paid sick days to tipped restaurant workers, allows workers to begin accruing sick days on their first day of work, and improves enforcement, as well as raising DC's minimum wage to $12.50 per hour, including for tipped workers, and  indexing it to inflation, but Committee chair Vincent Orange “is now giving signals that he will tackle minimum wage first and paid sick days separately in the new year,” reports JUFJ’s Monica Kamen. “He's also getting push back on his proposal to raise the tipped minimum wage. Leaving tipped workers out and delaying the paid sick days bill gives the restaurant industry time to once again gain an unfair exemption from treating workers with basic dignity. We need the committee to vote on one, combined, minimum wage and paid sick days bill now!”