MRNY member Amador Rivas feature in Contagion: Not Just a Movie.

MRNY members are speaking out about the lack of paid sick days for New York City’s workers. Member Amador Rivas is featured in Contagion: Not Just a Movie, a short film demonstrating the real-life impact that a lack of paid sick leave has on our City’s health. Rivas, a cook at a restaurant in New York City, speaks about going to work sick because he couldn’t afford to take a day off work. (Check out Amador around 3:06)

“I had to do it,” Amador says, acknowledging that in his role as a cook he likely contaminated food others consumed. But, he says, “I had no other option.”

Rivas is not the only one forced to put his family’s economic security ahead of his personal and the public’s health. InNew York City, 1.3 million people do not have paid sick days. This means many hard-working people are unable to stay home sick without being fired or losing a day’s wage, and many are forced to go to work sick because they couldn’t afford to stay home or weren’t allowed to take time off. Losing even three days’ pay for many families amounts to a month’s worth of groceries.

Click here to tell City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to pass the Paid Sick Time Act, to support New York’s working families: http://capwiz.com/timetocareny/issues/alert/?alertid=14063926

While some politicians argue that mandating paid sick days for all workers would be too costly for NYC’s businesses, other municipalities and states have already passed similar protections for workers, including San Francisco, Seattle, Milwaukee and Connecticut. They understand that failing to provide paid sick time can have serious implications for public health: nationally, only three in four food service workers, three in five personal health care workers and three in four child care workers receive paid sick days.

As part of the NY State Paid Family Leave Coalition, MRNY is organizing workers in low-wage sectors — who are the least likely to receive paid sick days — to stand up for their rights.

Please stand with us and ask Speaker Quinn to pass the Paid Sick Time Act and help ensure that workers don’t have to make the awful choice between keeping their health and keeping their jobs.