Paid Time Off MattersA (slow) progress report

The Guardian investigates the dire state of motherhood in the US

The Mother Load: America is failing mothers (and fathers and children). Maybe they'll expose the discrimination between workers at Microsoft and other high tech firms?

The paid time off divide between Microsofties and v- suppliers employees keeps growing

While working toward a third updated version of The Other Microsoft, I just found this article (among many) I had missed 4 months ago about how on June 27, 2017 Microsoft expanded the paid time off for its employees when someone is sick in their families. It's a constant pattern: Microsoft is glorified for giving more to its own employees, an attitude that would be fine if it did not completely ignore the fate of all the other people working for Microsoft via contractors who are left to fight for themselves without benefiting in any way from the fact they are de facto working full time for Microsoft. Kathleen Hogan could not claim she does not know those contractors employees exist and also would like more such benefits: she is the one we reached out to when we claimed Microsoft was a joint employer. At this point we can only see Microsoft's limits to empathy: Microsoft's empathy only goes to their own direct employees. The rest is of no concern to them. Here is Kathleen Hogan's June 27 statement on Linkedin: Families matter, that's why we are announcing Family Caregiver Leave: Family caregiver leave will allows an employee to take up to four weeks of fully paid leave to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition.

Satya Nadella's focus on empathy: will it lead to extending paid family leave and paid public holidays for suppliers employees?

In the foreword (page 13) of the second edition of his book The Other Microsoft, Philippe Boucher quoted Satya Nadella's focus on empathy. We have not had the opportunity -yet- to read   Hit refresh: The quest to rediscover Microsoft's soul and imagine a better future for everyone" but from the reviews we read he reasserts  for him the importance of empathy. We hope this empathy will contribute to expand Microsoft's initiative to have their suppliers provide 'at least 15 days of paid time off" to add paid family leave and paid public holidays that are not specifically offered now.

 You can also read this interesting interview by Jane francisco about the Nadella's family in Good Housekeeping (November 2017). A few other articles about empathy: NPR,  Business Insider,  Fortune, etc.

Paid maternity leave: an elite benefit in the US, the haves and the have nots and Trump's promise

As reported in USA Today, this new report by PL+US about the haves and the have nots of paid family leave. Download the report. As they resume: put simply the people who most need it are the less likely to have paid family leave. Just found out: what Trump promises in his proposed budget but there are no precisions about the funding. From the Washington Post. 

How much would paid family leave cost? How much does it cost in California?

Very often the articles about paid family leave do not look at what the cost would be and how it would be financed. Here is an article published in Fortune magazine in 2015 that looks at the costs induced in New Jersey and California that rely of a small deduction on each employee's payroll. In California the cost is estimated at about $30 per year per employee. Less than $3 per month. As we wrote in the previous post the cost of having paid public holidays is significantly higher, between $1 to $2+ per hour but many companies could/can easily afford such a cost considering the billions they make in profits. So, who is going to raise this issue? In general and also pointing specifically at some corporations like we did for Microsoft and it's suppliers. Not that we don't think states and the federal government should not adopt legislation: they should but in the meantime engaging wealthy corporations that ignore the needs of their lowest paid workers could help.

Microsoft and Human Rights: what about starting to promote human rights at home for Microsoft's suppliers employees in the US?

Technology for human rights: UN Human Rights Office announces landmark partnership with Microsoft is the title of the press release distributed today by Microsoft and the UN office (see below). It is widely reproduced in the media that glorify Microsoft's generosity with their yearly $1 million grant to the UN Human Rights office for the next five years. See this post on Geekwire for the joined video presentation. The UN is presently running a campaign Stand up for someone's rights today that starts with this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt:
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."
Eleanor Roosevelt
Driving force behind the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

I completely agree with Eleanor and my first reaction, beyond an automatic thank you note was to think about Microsoft's responsibilities 'in small places close to home' like toward the thousands of people they employ via vendors in the US, especially in Redmond and Bellevue. I was one of them for several years when we had zero paid time leave despite the fact paid leave is part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (articles 24 and 25.2) and the other conventions Microsoft claims it intends to implement like the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights of 1966/1976. Articles 7d and 10.2 state: 

(the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to)

(7.d ) Rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay, as well as remuneration for public holidays

10.2. Special protection should be accorded to mothers during a reasonable period before and after childbirth. During such period working mothers should be accorded paid leave or leave with adequate social security benefits.

Are those rights asserted 50 years ago implemented today by Microsoft for it's suppliers employees in the US? Two years ago, on March 26, 2015, Brad smith announced a requirement that should provide 'at least 15 days of paid time off' for those employees. That was certainly a step into the right direction but it fell short of what the UN covenants demand: there is no mention of paid public holidays nor any mention of paid parental leave, specific paid leaves that should be provided on top of the basic 'at least 15 days of paid time off'. As Microsoft reasserts publicly its commitment to human rights and how big data technology can help, I want to use this opportunity to challenge Microsoft to follow Eleanor Roosevelt's recommendation: survey all your supplier's employees to check the type of paid leaves they provide, especially paid holidays and paid parental leave. Also ask the employees how they feel and what their wishes would be. Last but not least, estimate how much fully providing for those paid leaves would cost and how it could be quickly implemented. Who am I to dare making such a request? A former so called 'temporary worker' ready, as the UN invites us, to stand up for someone's rights today. By the way, providing all the 'temps' with 10 paid public holidays would represent a yearly investment of at least $50 million. A bit more than the $1 million Microsoft is going to give to the UN Office for Human Rights. That would be a real commitment, right here, in the US but that would still do nothing specific for all the families with a new child.

Recent stories of 'exploited temp workers', 'content serfs' for Facebook or Google by Annalee Newitz for Ars Technica

Here is the story of the 'content moderators' for Facebook and the two posts about the Google raters, the first one and the second one. Unfortunately typical stories of joint employment and retaliation against the workers who dare speaking up. Sounds very familiar with what happened to us. Hope they'll file charges with NLRB including the so called confidentiality agreement that is very probably excessive as it was in Lionbridge's case. Excellent reporting by Annalee Newitz with Ars Technica. Thank you very much Annalee. And if you dare complain about your working conditions at Amazon (as a contracted security officer) and try to organize, be ready to be retaliated against.

A story about the absence of paid maternal leave in the Washington Post

This pregnant Mom had two jobs (or tried to) that did not provide any paid maternal leave: one with Maximhealthcare, the other with Uber.  It looks like she started working for "Maxim" in 2010, making about $20K per year but without any benefits. I wonder what are Maxim's profits, how much they made during all those years they did not provide any benefits to workers very probably misclassified as temporary.

Starbucks still has to deal with its discriminatory approach to paid family leave

The best post I have found so far about the Starbucks saga after their annual shareholder meeting is by Emily Peck for the Huffington Post. The tough question remains: what's next? We'd say more push and pressure, publicly and behind the scene. Where were/are the faith groups when so many own stock? Afraid to stand up for new parents and families? 

Recent paid parental leave announcements (by Fairygodboss)

Just found out about Fairygodboss and their listing of the most recent paid parental leave announcements.

The 'family friendly benefits' supported by the American Sustainable Business Council

Read ASBC's guiding principles where the number 1 is providing family friendly benefits and number 8 includes "when contracting for labor seek to ensure that employers provide family friendly benefits'. ASBC supports the introduction of national paid leave via The FAMILY Act, reintroduced in the Senate by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and in the House by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). See the details here.

Passing paid family leave in Washington State: Is your State Rep in favor or against?

A message from Working Washington:

We have a real chance to pass paid family leave in Washington State this year. We have momentum — but we need your help.

A strong paid family leave proposal (HB 1116) has already passed out of the House Labor committee and the House Appropriations committee. The next step is to secure majority support for the bill so it can pass on the floor of the House.

It takes 50 votes to get a majority in the State House, and we’re not there yet. Help us get it done: contact your State Representatives and ask them to support statewide paid family leave by passing HB 1116.

Then when you hear back from your representatives, tell us what they say, and we'll add it to our public vote count. We're going to track where every member of the State House stands on paid family leave, because we think every voter should know where their representatives stand on this issue — and every representative should know they’re accountable for their vote.

CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TODAY

Another project to support paid family leave, from a conservative perspective (although Brookings is more liberal than AEI)

AEI, the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution have joined forces to publish a series of blog posts under the title: "Paid family leave: an issue whose time have come?" The main authors are Aparna Mathur (AEI) and Isabel Sawhill (Brookings) but they have reached out for contributions by other 'experts'. As of today I have seen 7 such posts. Interesting but with what impact and where does it go? A few furious comments by people who see paid family leave as discriminatory for people who don't have children. Amazing. (see at the bottom of the extended entry).

More details about Pivotal ventures and paid leave

In the Seattle Times, Sandi Doughton gives some details about how Melinda Gates Pivotal Ventures is supporting paid leave projects: she began to think about inequities that persist even in the United States. "It made me realize that there are issues we need to look at"... 

Another cause Gates is tackling through Pivotal Ventures is paid family leave. The Gates Foundation offers its employees up to a year of paid leave to care for new children, and the city of Seattle recently bumped up its benefit to 12 weeks.

Programs like those are common in most other rich countries, but rare in the United States.

Gates said she’s been investing in public policy analyses to identify ways to create and fund family-leave programs.

“Ultimately, it’s up to governments to decide, but what I want to put out there are several different options,” she said.

 

When Mark Zuckerberg mentions unions as 'supportive communities'

In his recent post about Building global community Mark Zuckerberg mentions unions as 'supportive communities': 

Building a global community that works for everyone starts with the millions of smaller communities and intimate social structures we turn to for our personal, emotional and spiritual needs.

Whether they're churches, sports teams, unions or other local groups, they all share important roles as social infrastructure for our communities. They provide all of us with a sense of purpose and hope; moral validation that we are needed and part of something bigger than ourselves; comfort that we are not alone and a community is looking out for us; mentorship, guidance and personal development; a safety net; values, cultural norms and accountability; social gatherings, rituals and a way to meet new people; and a way to pass time.

Working Washington: Sorry Starbucks, but that’s not ok.

Starbucks new paid parental leave policy

	Corporate employees (i.e. public relations, executives)	Store employees (i.e. baristas, shift supervisors)
Birth mother	18 weeks paid	6 weeks paid
Other new parent	12 weeks paid	0 weeks paid

Source: History of Partner Benefits, news.starbucks.com (at the very end).

 

Starbucks recently announced a new paid parental leave policy that provides 18 weeks paid time off for birth moms who are corporate employees... but only 6 weeks paid for birth moms who are baristas. Other new parents would get 12 weeks paid time off if they work in corporate... but no paid time at all if they work in a store. Tell Starbucks you love that they’re providing parental leave — but they need to explain why their policy seems to say that baristas' kids are worth less. >>>

---

Sorry Starbucks, but that’s not ok.

Do baristas need less time at home with a new child? Are their kids worth less than the children of corporate executives?

We're not sure how Starbucks can possibly explain this policy — so we figured we should ask. Click to send a letter to the Starbucks public relations department asking them to explain why baristas deserve less parental leave than corporate employees get.

The thought counts for a lot. So does the policy.

Thanks,

Working Washington

A second team focusing on promoting paid leave: Pay+Leave - They protest the new policy offered by Starbucks that does not include dads

We just discovered the existence of Pay+Leave. See their strategy and their campaign targeting Starbucks. Starbucks announced improved paid parental leave but apparently left out many employees. A story reminiscent of what happened at Netflix a while ago. Anybody with Starbucks stock? Sign the petition started on change.org to ask Starbucks to include dads.

Why paid leave is good for business - by Panorama Global and the Boston Consulting Group

Gabrielle Fitzgerald of Panorama Global partnered with the Boston Consulting Group to produce a study titled: 'Why paid leave is good for business".
She writes : We worked alongside the Boston Consulting Group to analyze the costs and benefits of offering inclusive paid family and medical leave programs, and will use that evidence to persuade American companies that adopting such policies is better for business and the wellbeing of employees. While it remains to be seen how persuasive such evidence can be, it cannot hurt to have it collected, analyzed and largely shared. In the absence of unions, pushing for paid leave will require other tools for the workers presently left out without paid leaves: like shareholder advocacy.