Senator Coggs: Ready and Willing

Although 70% of Milwaukee citizens agree that paid sick days are a necessity for all workers, paid sick days are still not a reality for many of Milwaukee’s workers. Passing such legislation at the state level is the clear next step in providing all workers federally with paid sick days. Guaranteed paid sick days for Wisconsin, along with 12 other states, is in the works. Representative Tamara Grigsby is drafting legislation and will be the Assembly champion.

As a new intern at 9to5, I was fortunate enough to be a part of a member meeting where two Milwaukee State Senators met with 9to5ers. The meeting was held in the end of September at the 9to5 community space. Senator Coggs and Senator Taylor spoke of their latest accomplishments and what they hoped to make progress on. Senator Taylor contributed valuable statewide input. When asked about paid sick days at the state level, Senator Coggs had a particularly inspiring response to the amount of work we at 9to5 and other allies in the fight for paid sick days have. He simply said that passing paid sick days statewide would be difficult, but it’s something that definitely can be done.

This is exactly the attitude we need to adopt in order to succeed. If this movement gained enough support, we would all be one step closer to not having to make decisions that we shouldn’t have to between our health or the health of our loved ones and work.

I would hope that everyone would agree with the underlying values of paid time off for the health of their families. Hearing that it’s a definite possibility from one person can set an example for everyone, whatever power they have.

At the end of the member meeting, Senator Coggs agreed to cosponsor statewide paid sick days. With uniting efforts such as this, all is possible. Lets take this opportunity to lead the nation in truly valuing working families with good policy.