Monthly Archive for November, 2010

Honoring our Families During National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers Month

Published on November 24, 2010 in Campaign for Better Care and Lynn Feinberg. 1 Comment

Lynn Feinberg

Imagine living with someone you are crazy about who gradually turns into a stranger. Alzheimer’s disease is a heartbreaking disease, not just because it takes a loved one in death, but because first, it takes that person’s mind, personality, memory and character – the things that made us love them in the first place.

Today, more than 5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and that number is expected to grow to over 13 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. In most of these cases spouses, adult children and other family members take on the burden of treatment decisions and care coordination, while also helping their loved one maximize their quality of life and live in dignity and comfort. Although this terrible disease is devastating to all Americans, it is women – our mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, aunts, sisters – who are most affected not only by having the disease itself, but also by being the primary caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic conditions in the U.S.

A recent report released by Maria Shriver and the Alzheimer’s Association, The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s, explores the issues around caring for a family member or friend with Alzheimer’s. The report outlines the struggle women, in particular, face as they balance their responsibilities in the workplace while also caring for a parent or grandparent with the disease. According to the report, the average unpaid Alzheimer’s caregivers are working women over the age of 50 providing care most frequently to their mothers (31%) and spouses (15%).

From the Campaign for Better Care’s national opinion research, we know they are taking on these responsibilities in a health care system that is fragmented and uncoordinated, making the weight of their caregiving responsibilities much heavier. In a country like ours, it just isn’t right that people with Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic conditions don’t get the high quality, coordinated care they deserve.

Today, doctors lack the time to develop a relationship with the patient and his/her family – or coordinate with their other doctors, health and social service providers, and community supports. I envision a day when our health care system provides incentives for primary care doctors to routinely hold a family meeting with Alzheimer’s families in order to have a focused conversation about their values and preferences and plan their care, rather than just paying for more procedures and treatments. We need a health care system that promotes more effective communication among health care providers, patients and their families; strengthens continuity of care; and is organized to deliver team-based care that includes direct care workers (like home care aides) who are vital to the well-being of Alzheimer’s families – and every family that is caring for a loved one who is suffering.

This is what the Campaign for Better Care is all about. We know that chronic conditions like Alzheimer’s disease affect not only patients, but their families too. We know that we must make our voices heard to make improvements in the health care system so that it delivers high quality, comprehensive, and coordinated care, especially for vulnerable older adults with multiple chronic conditions. Now is the time to act.

In November, as we celebrate both National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Family Caregivers Month, let us transform the national conversation and make meaningful change for our families and for ourselves.

Read about one family’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease here.

Continuing the March toward Equality

Published on November 18, 2010 in Portia Wu and Workplace Fairness. 28 Comments
Portia Wu, Vice President.

Portia Wu, Vice President

A few weeks ago, voters sent a clear message: They want Congress to work in a bipartisan manner to address the issues facing working families. But when Senators took their first vote after returning to Washington, they missed the chance to do just that.  Yesterday’s vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act was a failed opportunity and a real disappointment for all of us who care about fairness, women’s progress, and economic security for working families.

Equal pay for equal work is one of the most fundamental American principles and this legislation was the perfect chance to demonstrate bipartisan consensus for a just and popular bill after a divisive election season. Instead, we saw partisan posturing that will keep America’s women from taking a critical step toward greater economic security for themselves and their families.

As most of you already know, the Senate could not muster enough votes to end the filibuster against the Paycheck Fairness Act because every Republican voted against it.  The legislation had bipartisan support in the House, but not this week in the Senate.

This procedural roadblock will have real consequences for working families by denying them badly needed remedies for the discriminatory pay practices that still plague our workplaces 45 years after the Equal Pay Act became law. There is no question that this vote has stalled progress on women’s wages, family budgets and economic growth.

But this is not the end of the battle. Over the past few weeks, tens of thousands of supporters across the country sent messages to tell Congress that fair pay is important to them. We are stronger than we have ever been, and determined to win this fight.

The good news is that fair pay is also a top priority for President Obama. He met with representatives from women’s organizations, including me, immediately after the vote yesterday.  It was encouraging to hear him underscore his deep personal commitment to the issue, and to talk about next steps.

The Paycheck Fairness Act had overwhelming public support. We will make sure that this fight continues until the legislation is law. As Debra Ness said in her statement following yesterday’s vote: “Critical advances for women have never come quickly or easily in this country, but they always come.  We will achieve fair pay for women in this country. We must continue our march toward equality.”

Final Hour for Fair Pay?!

Published on November 15, 2010 in Debra Ness and Workplace Fairness. 0 Comments
Debra Ness

Debra Ness, President

Today, the Senate returns to Washington ­– and the Paycheck Fairness Act is one of the first bills on its agenda. Passing the Paycheck Fairness Act is more important than ever.

This is the legislation’s final hour in 2010.  If the Senate doesn’t pass the bill in the next few weeks, we’ll have to start from scratch when the new Congress convenes in January.

Equal pay for women is essential to women’s economic security and to our nation’s economic recovery.  It’s time to send an unequivocal message that we will not allow pay discrimination in this country to continue.

In these critical final hours, help us encourage the Senate to pass the legislation this year!  Working women and their families can’t afford to wait any longer. If you want to learn more about fair pay, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and our campaign, go here (and here, here, and here).

Here are a few easy ways you can make a difference right now:

1. Call your Senators. Sometimes, a well-timed phone call from a constituent is more effective than a flurry of emails. We’ve made it easy: Just call 1-877-667-6650.

2. Share your Facebook status. Show your support for the Paycheck Fairness Act and help to spread the word by updating your Facebook status with the following quote by Vice President Biden: “‘It is an issue that you’re going to have to look into the eyes of your granddaughters…. Get on the right side now.’ It’s time to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.”

3. Tweet and RT #fairpay. Twitter is another great way to spread the word. Use the #fairpay hashtag to ensure that your message will show up in searches, and include the Twitter ‘handles’ of the members of Congress you’re addressing so your message will show up in their feeds too. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, so you can simply retweet us!

We’ve also started Twitter petitions for Senator Brown (R-MA), Senator Collins (R-ME) and Senator Snowe (R-ME). 

Thanks for everything you do! Together, we will ensure that women finally receive fair pay!

Success is Inevitable

Published on November 9, 2010 in Debra Ness and Work & Family. 5 Comments

Debra Ness, President

Cross-posted at the Huffington Post

Today’s working families are juggling ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ policies in a web 2.0 world, and it’s simply not sustainable. Workers are struggling to care for their families while both parents hold jobs. Families are straining to meet increasing child- and eldercare responsibilities. Parents have little savings to fall back on, and few jobs – and even fewer good jobs – to apply for, should they lose the jobs they have.

Every day we see the consequences, which include more sick children at school and daycare, more families facing foreclosure and bankruptcy because illness struck, and more mothers and fathers struggling mightily to juggle their work and family responsibilities.

Those realities make a mockery of our claim to value families, and they are the reason that paid sick days, paid family and medical leave, flextime and other work/family measures have overwhelming public support. They are the right policies for our families, our economy, and our times.

National Work and Family Month just ended with ample evidence about the work that needs to be done. Residents of Milwaukee are still awaiting the implementation of the paid sick days law they approved two years ago with nearly 70 percent support. New York City workers are still waiting for Speaker Christine Quinn to recognize that paid sick days legislation is good for both the city’s workers and its businesses. And we’re all still waiting for Congress to complete FY2011 appropriations that we hope will contain modest funds for state paid leave programs.

Yet despite all these delays–and an election that may well put in office more opponents of the reasonable, modest work/family policies the nation urgently needs– I am convinced that success on family support programs is inevitable. That’s because measures like paid sick days, paid family and medical leave, flextime and others are not risky, not untested, not damaging to businesses, and not harmful to our economy. In fact, where these policies have been put in place, businesses and employees have grown stronger.

So regardless of the outcome of this election, it’s only a matter of time until fair-minded lawmakers from both parties join workers in saying: Enough.

That day will come sooner if workers and advocates join together to speak out, organize, and demand the programs and policies Americans deserve.

There are many challenges before us, but there is no doubt that our nation can and will do better for working families. The cost of continuing inaction is simply too high.


Changing the Game: Workplace Flexibility for All

Published on November 4, 2010 in Vicki Shabo and Work & Family. 0 Comments

Vicki Shabo, Director of Work and Family Programs

The National Partnership was pleased to be invited to participate in the National Dialogue on Workplace Flexibility in smaller businesses, sponsored by the White House and U.S. Department of Labor in Dallas, Texas last month.  This event was the first of four National Dialogue on Workplace Flexibility events, scheduled for 2010 and 2011. Next up is a regional event in Atlanta next week focused on workplace flexibility in the health care industry.

Speaking to an audience of business leaders, government officials, workers and advocates, former IBM executive and work-life expert Ted Childs called for a national commitment to workplace flexibility.  Childs likened this imperative to President Kennedy’s commitment to send a man to the moon.  What we need, he said, is a “game-changer” that would boost our nation’s competitiveness by recognizing the value of workers on the job and at home.

Access to basic flexibility would be a “game-changer” for millions of workers as well. Quantitative data and findings from a discussion group of Dallas workers convened by the National Partnership and Family Values @ Work demonstrate once again that there are huge gaps in access to paid sick time and other types of flexibility across businesses and even among employees within the same business. Today, nearly 40 million private-sector workers lack a single paid sick day to use when they are ill, and millions more lack sick time that can be used to care for a sick child.

We also know that offering flexibility makes business sense and could be a “game-changer” for business bottom lines. Data from the Families and Work Institute has consistently shown that workers with higher rates of access to flexibility are more engaged at work, more satisfied with their jobs, and less inclined to look for new jobs—leading to higher productivity and reduced turnover.  Our own review of existing literature shows that offering paid sick days saves businesses money by reducing presenteeism, reducing workplace contagion and increasing worker retention.  And offering paid family and medical leave breeds worker loyalty and reduces costs associated with turnover.

As Labor Secretary Hilda Solis wrote in the Dallas Morning News recently, “Government has a role to play.”  The Secretary went on to cite the Healthy Families Act an example of a public policy we need.  And, at the Dallas forum, she said she hopes the National Dialogue events will allow the Department of Labor to collect evidence that leads to the development of local, state and national policies that address workplace flexibility.

We applaud the forward-thinking businesses that attended the DOL event for leading the way in adopting both basic and more innovative workplace policies. We ask them to partner with government to help design public policies that will enable all workers to enjoy basic flexibility in the workplace.

Designing public policies for the 21st century workplace would be a “game changer” for all of us, creating stronger workers, stronger families, stronger communities and—yes—stronger bottom lines.