Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development gave a thumbs up to the pending Paid Sick Day bill.  Now, quick progress is needed to move it through both houses by the end of the legislative term.  Calls to House Leadership about the importance of this bill would be very useful.

Enthusiastic audiences heard Nigel Savage at Temple Beth Zion and Cong. Dorshei Tzedek this weekend.  Members of Moishe/Kavod House, JALSA, Temple Shalom of Newton, TBZ, and Dorshei came together to listen to the HAZON leader and help build the Jewish Food Movement in Boston.   Immediate local steps include participation in CSA arrangements  (Community Supported Agriculture), support of the Nutrition Bill (H 4459) at the State Legislature (which includes provisions to encourage school purchase of local products), continued encouragement of workshops at different synagogues to encourage participation, and efforts to encourage local supermarkets to consider exploitation of workers as they determine where to purchase food.   The Nutrition Bill has been sent to Senate Ways and Means and JALSA members should talk to their senators to encourage swift movement of this legislation

A new Briefing Paper entitled Sick at Work: Infected Employees in the Workplace During the H1N1 Pandemic, released by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, finds that while almost 26 million employed Americans age 18 and over may have been infected with the H1N1 flu in 2009, nearly 8 million employees took no time off work while infected. Relying on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on rates of illness and work attendance during the months of September through November, 2009, the study suggests that an alarming number of employees attended work while sick, and this pattern was especially prevalent in industries with low paid sick days coverage.  The findings suggest that a lack of paid sick days allowed H1N1 to spread in the workplace.    The full report is available

JALSA urged members of the Legislative Committee on Labor and Commerce today to vote on the pending legislation that would allow all Massachusetts workers the opportunity to earn up to 7 days each year of paid sick leave.     The legislation has the support of the majority of the committee and it is time that the committee vote and send the legislation to the floor.  Almost half of the workers in the state do not have a single day of paid leave in which they can take a family member to the doctor without fear of lost wages and the possibility of being fired.

Testifying on behalf of JALSA, Barbara Gutman urged the Financial Services Committee to oppose efforts by the Savings Life Insurance industry to allow different rates or benefits for life insurance for men and women.   Gender-neutral  insurance has been sold in Massachusetts for a century and the industry has been a profitable one, stated the JALSA testimony; there is no need for the legislature to back track on the successful efforts of recent years to move closer to upholding the Massachusetts constitutional requirement to treat men and women equally under the law.

Professor Frank Fisher will be a guest at First Friday to discuss the recent attacks on the New Israel Fund and Israeli Human Rights groups.  Friday, Feb.12 12:30 p.m., Fisher will describe the current efforts to dilegitimize NIF and other groups.  JALSA office, 18 Tremont Street, Suite 320, Boston.

Three Cheers for Senate Judiciary Chair,  Senator Cynthia Creem.

Speaking at a rally at the State House in support of an act that would add gender identity to groups identified in anti-discrimination legislation — such as race, religion, sexual orientation, age, gender, etc. –our JALSA Advisory Board member added:

And if someone says to me that they are uncomfortable with persons who have changed their sexual identity,

I say   “GET OVER IT’