In a recent article in Mother Jones, entitled What Family Leave? by Stephanie Mencimer, she discusses both the Bush plan to undercut existing legislation, and the need for the expansion of FMLA coverage.

The US is the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't provide paid maternity leave, putting it on par with such nations as Liberia and Swaziland, according to one study. But for 15 years the FMLA has been the beginning and the end of federal work/family policymaking.

In Barack Obama's platform for change related to families he has raised two important issues connected to FMLA:

Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): The FMLA covers only certain employees of employers with 50 or more employees. Barack Obama will expand the FMLA to cover businesses with 25 or more employees. Barack Obama will expand the FMLA to cover more purposes as well, including allowing workers to take leave for elder care needs; allowing parents up to 24 hours of leave each year to participate in their children's academic activities at school; allowing leave to be taken for purposes of caring for individuals who reside in their home for 6 months or more; and expanding FMLA to cover leave for employees to address domestic violence and sexual assault.

Encourage States to Adopt Paid Leave: As president, Barack Obama will initiate a 50 state strategy to encourage all of the states to adopt paid-leave systems. Obama will provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs for employees and employers.

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/family /

Action is needed on all fronts to defend the existing law on the books, to attack efforts to erode it, and to push for full coverage and paid leave.

One of the key opponents is the US Chamber of Commerce.

Groups like the US Chamber of Commerce have relentlessly attacked the popular law as an expensive administrative burden rife with abuse, and Republicans have responded by obstructing even the most minor attempts at expanding its reach. They've found an ally in President Bush, whose father twice vetoed the original FMLA, and who is quietly trying to gut the law through the regulatory process before he leaves office. Earlier this year, the Department of Labor proposed new regulations that would, among other things, make it easier for employers to deny leave requests and allow employers to directly quiz an employee's doctor about his or her medical condition. (Currently, employers need an employee's permission to contact physicians, and then they must have a medical professional, rather than the boss, contact the doctor.)

The US Chamber of Commerce

is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions. It includes hundreds of associations, thousands of local chambers, and more than 100 American Chambers of Commerce in 91 countries.

They are located at:

1615 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20062-2000
Main Number: 202-659-6000

We need to identify businesses who are members, and express our outrage, and concern - vote with your dollars! Contact your member of Congress and make your voice heard.

Frustration with federal inaction has led many states to move forward to create their own family-friendly workplace laws. In May, New Jersey became the third state in the nation to provide paid parental leave, along with California and Washington. Earlier this year, Washington, DC, passed legislation requiring employers to give some workers at least seven days a year of paid sick leave. Other states are considering following suit as political support grows for helping people juggle work and family. Meanwhile, the federal government is still stuck in 1993.

All that, however, may change this year, as Democrats have pushed the issue to the forefront of the political agenda, both in Congress and in the presidential election, where Democrats may make work/family policies an important wedge issue in the fall.

The new Democratic Congress has proposed a flurry of legislation designed to bring federal workplace policy into the 21st century. In January, for the first time in 15 years, Congress amended the FMLA to allow family members caring for wounded service members to take 26 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave and expanded the law's definition of "caregiver" to include siblings and other next of kin, not just parents. Last week, the House voted to allow federal workers to take 4 of their 12 weeks of FMLA leave with pay after the birth or adoption of a child. Virginia senators Jim Webb and John Warner have introduced companion legislation in the Senate. (Bush has already threatened to veto the bill, calling it a "costly, unnecessary, new paid-leave entitlement.")

As the campaign intensifies it is important that we pressure the TM to raise this issue.  The National Partnership for Women and Families has extensive materials available on their website for those who want more information.

Polls consistently show that most Americans strongly support policies like expanding the FMLA, giving Obama an opportunity to distinguish himself from his opponent on something Americans of all stripes care about. John McCain has remained mum when it comes to the expansion of family leave, though he voted to pass the original law back in 1993. Given what's happening in the states, it's clear that Americans are hungering for change on this front. As Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families said on Friday, ticking off a list of the group's accomplishments this year, "If we can accomplish all this in a recession, in an election year, in the seventh year of an administration that has turned such a blind eye to women and families, just think of what we'll be able to accomplish next year."

Hopefully, in the campaign ahead this issue will be raised more prominently, to garner support from working people, and particularly women, for Democratic candidates.  

(Cross posted to DKos)