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Why paid sick leave is essential to beating coronavirus - YouTube
Channel: Vox
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st. Mark's Square Venice Italy it's one
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of the most visited tourist destinations
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in the world most years in mid-march
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it's crowded with people hanging out in
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cafes checking out the cathedral and
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writing gondolas but in March of 2020
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st. Mark's Square was practically empty
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more and more people in northern Italy
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had tested positive for the highly
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contagious corona virus to slow down the
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spread of the virus
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the Prime Minister told everyone to stay
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home alone also del Italia in la nostra
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my and they listened a big part of the
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reason they could do that is because of
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a national policy in Italy everyone
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there is guaranteed paid sick days no
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matter their job the same is true in the
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UK and Germany and Spain and Japan and
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Ireland and Austria and Australia and
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Norway and France and well basically all
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wealthy countries but in the u.s. a huge
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number of workers face a very different
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reality these restaurant workers in New
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Orleans are demanding emergency sick pay
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during the corona virus pandemic
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unlike in all these countries there is
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no national law in the u.s. guaranteeing
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workers the right to paid sick days
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instead whether you have that right
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depends on where you live and who you
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work for
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it's a system that leaves tens of
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millions of the lowest paid Americans
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vulnerable and it's about to be tested
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by the biggest global pandemic in a
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hundred years
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if you look at how other countries
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handle paid sick leave some of them like
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Italy in Japan
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pay workers directly out of a social
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security fund others like Germany New
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Zealand and Australia have laws that
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require employers to foot the bill in
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Ireland and Spain it's a combination of
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both but they all do it for the same
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reason because it helps contain the
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spread of disease and can save lives
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when workers have to choose between
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making money and staying home when
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they're sick the incentive is for them
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to come to work which can get their
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customers and co-workers sick that's an
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especially big problem during a pandemic
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like coronavirus when hospitals might
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already be at capacity which would mean
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some people can't get medical attention
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which would mean more people would die
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that's why the website of the CDC
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America's main public health agency is
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unambiguous about what you should do if
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you're sick right now stay home but if
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staying home means not being able to pay
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your rent it might not be that simple
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I'm a production assistant I'm a music
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educator I work in Houston Texas as
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their stage head I am a line opener at a
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bakery by day a bartender by night and
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neither job offers paid sick days I
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don't get sick days because I'm not
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staff I'm hired like day to day I'm a
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contract worker so that means we're
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ineligible for benefits or paid sick
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leave at all if for any reason I have to
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call in sick the company caused an
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expression on the list and I do not get
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paid
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it basically means I start playing
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Tetris with my living expenses and pull
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money away from one bill to squeeze it
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into another so it makes things
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complicated and a bit scary in recent
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years service industry workers have
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pushed for new paid sick leave laws in
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cities and states across the country and
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in a handful of places they've succeeded
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but service workers are a huge part of
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every state's economy so why haven't
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they been more successful in getting
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paid sick days in more places part of
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the reason why starts here in Milwaukee
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Wisconsin
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in 2008 voters there passed a paid sick
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leave referendum by a huge margin but
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three years later the state's Republican
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Governor Scott Walker signed a bill that
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said no city in Wisconsin could require
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employers to provide their employees
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with leave of any kind
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Milwaukee's new paid sick leave law was
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toast then later that same year an
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executive from the company Yum Brands
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which owns KFC Taco Bell and Pizza Hut
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went to a meeting of the American
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Legislative Exchange Council or Alec
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it's a group that rights legislation for
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Republican state lawmakers all over the
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country so they don't have to write it
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themselves they handed out copies of
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that Wisconsin bill in the decade sense
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republican-controlled state legislatures
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in 16 other states have passed nearly
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identical laws including Louisiana home
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of those New Orleans protestors but now
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that there's a pandemic the u.s. really
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needs sick workers everywhere to stay
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home that's partly why on March 18th
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2020 president Trump signed a
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coronavirus relief bill that vice
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president Mike Pence described to the
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American people this way if you're sick
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stay home you're not gonna miss a
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paycheck the problem is that's not true
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the Democrats original bill gave
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everyone access to paid sick days but to
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get Republicans on board they made some
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concessions the bill
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does contain a line that says an
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employee shall be entitled to paid sick
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time during public health emergencies
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the problem is that rule only applies to
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companies with between 50 and 500
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employees and companies that size only
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employ about 20% of American workers so
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even with this new bill millions of
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workers at big national chains like
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McDonald's Walmart Kroger and Pizza Hut
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still don't have paid sick days
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there are lots of American workers that
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do have paid sick leave many also have
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the privilege of working from home
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during the crisis but coronavirus
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doesn't distinguish between people who
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have that privilege and those who don't
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that means that the status quo puts all
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Americans at risk because we're only as
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safe as our least protected neighbors
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[Music]
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