Published: February 28, 2008
The bruising continues over the District's proposed Sick & Safe bill in advance of a final vote by the D.C. Council March 4.
Four thousand direct mail advertisements will arrive in mailboxes of residents in wards 4, 5 and 6 on Feb. 29, thanking six D.C. councilmembers "for voting for D.C.'s working families" when the idea to mandate paid days off to all workers in the city came to an initial vote three weeks ago.
The ads are paid for by SEIU Local 32BJ, a union representing 100,000 commercial office building employees -- including cleaning, security and maintenance workers -- from Virginia to New York. The union is also running a newspaper advertisement March 3, the day before the council is scheduled to make its final choice.
At the first vote, members of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce flooded the D.C. Council sporting T-shirts and stickers, causing six members and the mayor to suggest tabling the bill because of possible damage it could do to D.C. businesses.
This time around, the chamber has suggested 14 amendments aimed at thinning the bill, including proposals to exempt restaurant staff, commission a study of the law's effects should it pass or delay implementation until neighboring jurisdictions pass something similar.
Barbara Lang, president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, said the union's advertising was a response to "seeing the business community rally around a specific issue in a way it has never before."
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