U.S. lags on family-oriented job rules. (shameful)

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_on_bi_ge/workplace_families;_ylt=Al2VqHX1q6Y5WJtOIPoSJZes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM-

U.S. lags on family-oriented job rules

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer 1 hour, 55 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The United States lags far behind virtually all wealthy countries with regard to family-oriented workplace policies such as maternity leave, paid sick days and support for breast-feeding, a new study by Harvard and McGill University researchers says.

The new data comes as politicians and lobbyists wrangle over whether to scale back the existing federal law providing unpaid family leaves or to push new legislation allowing paid leaves.

The study, officially being issued Thursday, says workplace policies for families in the United States are weaker than those of all high-income countries and many middle- and low-income countries. Notably, it says the U.S. is one of only five countries out of 173 in the survey that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave; the others are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.

"More countries are providing the workplace protections that millions of Americans can only dream of," said the study's lead author, Jody Heymann, founder of the Harvard-based Project on Global Working Families and director of McGill's Institute for Health and Social Policy.

Among the study's findings:

[Missy M]

1. This shouldn't be.....

one of only five countries out of 173 that doesn't guarantee paid maternity leave. At this point I'm amazed people in this country get vacations. I sometimes think if the corporations had their way vacations would be eliminated.

[happyslug]

7. What a select group of Countries to be a member of, Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland, Papua New Guinea.

One is West Africa (Liberia, Recovering From a Civil War), two products of the Republic Of South Africa Politics (Lesotho, and Swaziland) and that outstanding progressive country known as Papua New Guinea, a huge tropical Jungle.

More on Swaziland:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swaziland

More on Lesotho:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesotho

Papua New Guinea:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papua_New_Guinea

And of Course Liberia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia

[bleedingheart]

2. That's because unfettered capitalism doesn't give a shit about families

and our goverment is in the hands of the capitalists.

[HockeyMom]

3. And they are already born,

not zygotes, embryos, or fetuses.

[ninkasi]

4. A friend of ours

he and my husband have been friends for over 40 years, and I have been friends with him and his wife for 20 of those years, has a brain tumor. He had surgery over 3 weeks ago, and the tumor is cancer. His wife took all of her vacation time to be with him during surgery, and the pre-op tests, and is still off this week because her co-workers took up a collection to give her so that she could take unpaid time.

Next week, he will start radiation therapy, it will be 5 days a week for 6 weeks, then once a week for a few months. He worked for a company which does not pay for sick leave. She can take FMLA, but they need her income. She asked to see if there might be transportation available to get him to his radiation treatments, but was told no.

They are trying to get him on SSD, so that if his wife has to be off work to take him for treatments, they will have at least some income. I have offered to give her up to 2 weeks salary, either as a lump payment, or in days at a time, if she can get her daughter-in-law's grandmother to take him to his appointments, and then I can pay her salary when that doesn't pan out.

What are they supposed to do in this wonderful economy, in this wonderful conservative's wet dream of drowning all of social services in the bathtub? They do not have trust funds, or fat stock portfolios, yet Bush has geared every tax cut, every law, to enrich the wealthy even more, and to cut the ground from under my friend's feet.

This is a country which values life? This is a country which claims to be morally superior to others, because the RW fundies are trying to stop a woman's right to choose, and gay marriage? If two guys, or two women, have a relationship which they consider marriage, fine. I applaud their love, and commitment. Those who would deny them that choice are also the ones who would let my friends fall through the cracks, and let him die sooner due to lack of treatment, or impoverish them because his wife can't take care of him, and work too.

The U.S. lags every enlightened country on earth regarding humane policies for it's citizens. It leads in the number of citizens in prison, and the number executed. Perhaps the so-called moral majority, the fundies, the party who claims to revere life, needs to take a closer look at the day to day reality confronting millions of our citizens.

[Vidar]

5. But our "pro-family " government manages the important stuff like

four letter words.

[Dulcinea]

6. This shows you who's REALLY in charge.

"Family values" is nothing but lip service to the fundies. Corporate America views maternity leave and family leave as lost productivity, & what they want, they get in the form of policies like these.

[Up2Late]

8. This is just SO pathetic and Shameful!

<http://www.swnewsherald.com/online_content/2007/02/020107ov_study_fam.php>

The 2007 Work, Family, and Equity Index: How Does the U.S. Measure Up? finds:

Out of 173 countries studied, 168 guarantee paid maternal leave, with 98 of these countries offering 14 or more weeks of paid leave. The U.S. provides no paid leave for mothers. Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea are the only other countries studied that deny leave with income to mothers.

65 countries grant fathers either paid paternity leave or paid parental leave, with 31 of these countries offering 14 or more weeks of paid leave. The U.S. guarantees fathers neither paid paternity nor paid parental leave.

At least 107 countries protect working women’s right to breastfeed and the breaks are paid in at least 73 of these countries. The U.S. does not guarantee the right to breastfeed, even though breastfeeding is demonstrated to reduce infant mortality one and a half- to five-fold.

At least 145 countries provide paid sick days for short- or long-term illnesses, with 127 providing a week or more annually. The U.S. provides unpaid leave only for serious illnesses through the Family & Medical Leave Act, which does not cover 40 percent of private sector workers, and has no federal law providing for paid sick days.

137 countries require employers to provide paid annual leave. The U.S. does not.

At least 134 countries have laws that fix the maximum length of the work week. The U.S. does not have a maximum work week length or a limit on mandatory overtime per week.

At least 126 countries mandate that employers provide a day of rest each week so workers are not required to go for long periods without a day off. The U.S. does not.

:banghead::grr:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

9. In some Asian countries, women get menstrual leave.

I wish we had that here. I'm older now so I don't have that problem, but I hated having to go to work with gawdawful cramps, and even if the painkillers worked, feeling like I had all the energy of a wet dishrag. This business of not making allowances for illnesses, pregnancy and childbirth, and even menstruation is disgraceful.