Philly councilman offers abbreviated plan for paid sick days

A Philadelphia City Councilman is trying another route to give workers without sick days the ability to earn them.

After Mayor Michael Nutter vetoed a sick-leave bill over the summer, Councilman Wilson Goode is proposing another way to change the culture of employers.

He is offering an amendment to his “living wage” legislation, which would require the city–and contractors that do business with the city–to offer an ability to earn sick time.

“We do roughly about 2,000 contracts a year … I don’t know how many employees those contractors have,” he said “In addition, we provide financial aid to economic development projects.”

While the plan will not cover as many workers as the vetoed bill, “we feel it should be a standard that the city should live up to and those city-supported employers should live up to,” Goode said.

The bill is a start, said Mary-Ann Bellesorte of Pathways Pennsylvania.

“We’re glad to have continued support for paid sick days in City Council. We would love to see paid sick days for all business, but we think Councilman Goode’s bill is a great step toward reaching as many workers as possible,” she said.

Goode, who said he feels confident the bill will pass, said the question is whether it has a veto-proof margin.