Coalition Pulls Paid Sick Days From Ballot
| By Bret Thompson, ProgressOhio - Sep 4th, 2008 at 9:13 am EDT |
STRICKLAND, BROWN VOW TO HELP PASS FEDERAL BILL
Columbus - Ohioans for Healthy Families, the state wide coalition that has sought enactment of a paid sick day law in the Buckeye state, announced today that it will ask that the Ohio Healthy Families Act not appear on the November ballot. The Coalition said it would deliver a formal request to that effect later in the day to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Brunner's office is currently certifying the 240,000 petition signatures submitted by the coalition on August 5 to place the issue before the voters.
Speaking for the Coalition, SEIU District 1199 President Becky Williams said the decision was "not easy nor made lightly" and was reached only after "it became clear that a shrill and vitriolic ballot campaign marred by misinformation and disinformation would be impossible to avoid." When Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) conveyed his support for a federal paid sick day bill in his speech accepting the Democratic Presidential nomination, and Gov. Strickland and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) pledged their help in enacting such a law, Williams said the coalition decided to pull the OHFA from the November ballot. Strickland and Brown (a co-sponsor of S.910, a paid sick day bill currently pending in Congress) appeared at the news conference with Williams and reiterated their intent to seek passage of a federal law.
"Though we are certain -and every public opinion poll bears us out -that voters would support the Healthy Families Act if it were on the ballot, we respect the Governor's wish to avoid a negative and divisive campaign fight that could hurt Ohio", Williams said. "That was never our intent, and it certainly would not be in the best interests of the state we love. To avoid that outcome ---and since Gov. Strickland and Sen. Brown have assured us they will do all they can to pass a federal paid sick day law-we believe this is the right thing to do."
Williams stressed that the fight for paid sick days has not ended, but merely shifted to a new and larger battleground. She cited a new national poll released on August 29 by the National Opinion Research Center in Chicago which found that 80% of Americans supported paid sick days and that 86% say employers should be required to provide them. "We will not rest until paid sick days finally and at long last becomes a reality-not just for all Ohioans, but for all Americans", she concluded.
Columbus - Ohioans for Healthy Families, the state wide coalition that has sought enactment of a paid sick day law in the Buckeye state, announced today that it will ask that the Ohio Healthy Families Act not appear on the November ballot. The Coalition said it would deliver a formal request to that effect later in the day to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Brunner's office is currently certifying the 240,000 petition signatures submitted by the coalition on August 5 to place the issue before the voters.
Speaking for the Coalition, SEIU District 1199 President Becky Williams said the decision was "not easy nor made lightly" and was reached only after "it became clear that a shrill and vitriolic ballot campaign marred by misinformation and disinformation would be impossible to avoid." When Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) conveyed his support for a federal paid sick day bill in his speech accepting the Democratic Presidential nomination, and Gov. Strickland and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) pledged their help in enacting such a law, Williams said the coalition decided to pull the OHFA from the November ballot. Strickland and Brown (a co-sponsor of S.910, a paid sick day bill currently pending in Congress) appeared at the news conference with Williams and reiterated their intent to seek passage of a federal law.
"Though we are certain -and every public opinion poll bears us out -that voters would support the Healthy Families Act if it were on the ballot, we respect the Governor's wish to avoid a negative and divisive campaign fight that could hurt Ohio", Williams said. "That was never our intent, and it certainly would not be in the best interests of the state we love. To avoid that outcome ---and since Gov. Strickland and Sen. Brown have assured us they will do all they can to pass a federal paid sick day law-we believe this is the right thing to do."
Williams stressed that the fight for paid sick days has not ended, but merely shifted to a new and larger battleground. She cited a new national poll released on August 29 by the National Opinion Research Center in Chicago which found that 80% of Americans supported paid sick days and that 86% say employers should be required to provide them. "We will not rest until paid sick days finally and at long last becomes a reality-not just for all Ohioans, but for all Americans", she concluded.
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