Madison sick of waiting for a sick-leave law

Political activists and interest groups in Madison often push city leaders to tackle controversial laws or initiatives on their own rather than wait for state or federal officials.

Just look at the smoking ban in city bars that took effect last summer, or efforts to make Madison businesses pay workers more than the statewide minimum wage.

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Now a capital region coalition is pushing for a local law that would require employers with more than five workers to provide up to nine days of paid sick leave a year.

According to the nonpartisan National Council of Women's Organizations, almost half of all private-sector workers in the United States have no paid sick leave; in low-wage jobs, three out of four don't have paid leave. Supporters say the proposal would help employees in nonunion workplaces.

Madison's "Healthy Families, Healthy City" campaign estimates that more than 25,000 Madison workers would be affected by the plan.

Introduced in September, the proposal is linked to a national effort to help workers who don't have paid sick leave. The federal legislation would require all employers with at least 15 employees to provide seven days of paid sick leave a year for full-time workers who work at least 30 hours a week.

The proposal was introduced earlier this year by Democrats in the U.S. Senate and has backing from several groups including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which called the bill "a reasonable extension of our efforts to promote family-friendly workplace policies."

"It seems to make good business sense to offer workers the option of taking time off when a family member is sick," the bishops said in a statement. "The costs of losing an employee (advertising for, interviewing and training a replacement) alone can be far greater than the cost of providing short-term leave to retain existing employees."

Still, Madison Ald. Austin King thinks chances might be better at the local level to make progress because Republican majorities in Congress and the state Legislature are unlikely to embrace the change.

"We will be pursuing this at the state or federal level, it's just we aren't idiots and we know it's not likely to pass at the state or federal level," King said.

That would put Madison in the position of once again setting its own rules, but there are a few obstacles.

The idea has backing from nine members of the City Council, but 11 votes are needed for passage. And the board of the Greater Madison Area Chamber of Commerce has voted to oppose any local legislation that would govern wages and benefits.

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who is up for re-election in spring 2007, supports the idea in principle but said the city can't afford to adopt a regulation that would be perceived as hurting businesses.

"I take the perception Madison is anti-business very seriously," he said in an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal. "I want to get to the root of that perception and do something about it if I can."

That hasn't deterred the proposal's supporters, including King, who said Eau Claire and Milwaukee are working on similar proposals.

"I do think that there's something to be said for putting this issue on the front burner of the public consciousness and making it an issue in the 2006 elections," King said.