Society & Culture
The United States is one of just 11 countries around the world that don’t guarantee workers paid time off to stay home if they’re sick – one of the surest ways to slow the spread of infection. Jody Heymann, director of the World Policy Analysis Center at UCLA shares insights from a new report on paid sick leave policies around the world. We’ll hear stories of the harrowing choices faced by essential workers in Texas — where paid sick leave is especially hard to come by. We'll hear from Joleen Garcia, an organizer with the Texas Organizing Project, and from Marilyn Washington, a home health worker in San Antonio. And... we invite you to join us on Friday, May 22 at 1 pm Eastern time, for the live recording of our next Crisis Conversations episode. It'll be a 30-minute interactive conversation on elder care – a population hard hit by the virus. The pandemic has shown just how essential the home health workers are who care for our aging loved ones. Yet many of these care workers struggle with no benefits on the brink of poverty. Except in Washington state. We'll hear stories of how an innovative arrangement there could be a model for the rest of the country - now and after the pandemic.