The University’s workers deserve better

Like most people I know, I tend to think that the well-being of workers should be a priority for any institution. However, it can be easy to forget that issue of workers’ rights is relevant not only on a national or international level, but also on the community level. One such issue is the lack of paid sick leave for many employees of contractors. In fact, it took a jarring personal interaction to convince me of how important it is that the University require its contractors to provide workers with paid sick days.

Not long ago, I spoke to a woman employed by a contractor who was performing grueling, low-wage work at the University. She had recently been in an accident, and after seeing the injury myself I wondered how she could handle this tough job and the long commute. She told me that she had tried to take at least a day or two off to recuperate, but was told to take pain medication and come in anyway. I hesitate to provide any details about her situation and risk creating problems with her employer, but it is worth mentioning that due to her background she faced a number of barriers in communicating with her employer and advocating for herself beyond week-to-week self-sustainment.

I myself work for one of the University’s contractors (which only employs a few University students), and I recently checked the policy and confirmed that I do not receive paid sick days. Paid sick leave may not be a huge issue for me personally, as someone who does not need to work to survive or support a family. But from personal interactions around campus, I know that there are many older, immigrant and low-income workers here who rely on their contracted work to support families.

Many of these people also have to commute using public transportation. When a day of work is the equivalent of a week’s worth of groceries for a family, it can be very difficult to take a day off even due to poor health. Aside from struggling members of the larger Princeton community, many students here feel a very real economic pressure to work in order to defray the costs of college for themselves and their families. They too should be free from the pressure to work while sick.

While the University provides its own employees with paid sick days, it does not hold its contractors to the same standard. I found a list of contractors updated in December 2014 that included 343 companies. These companies vary greatly in types of employment and it is difficult to know exactly how many people are employed by contractors for the University, let alone how many might have paid sick days. Still, it does not seem unfair to assume that at the very least there are a considerable number of low-wage workers who, like me and the woman with whom I spoke, do not have paid sick days.

Considering that this institution prides itself on its commitment to the nation’s service and the service of all nations, it’s disappointing that the University falls behind both this nation and many others when it comes to requiring paid sick leave. According to a study conducted by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in 2009 the United States was “the only country that [did] not guarantee that workers receive paid sick days or paid sick leave” out of 22 countries ranked highly in terms of human and economic development. This past Labor Day, Obama announced an executive action requiring all contractors for the federal government to provide paid sick leave to employees, allowing them to accrue up to seven paid sick days each year.

The New Jersey Working Families Alliance has pushed to pass laws in municipalities providing all workers with paid sick leave. Robert Duffey, policy and communications director for the Alliance, described their campaign to eventually win paid sick days for all New Jersey workers (currently 1.2 million or 38 percent of the private sector workforce do not have paid sick leave), which has already succeeded in Jersey City, Trenton, Passaic, Newark, East Orange, Irvington, Paterson and Montclair. Currently a paid sick days ordinance has been proposed in the municipality of Princeton. Duffey explained the importance of this issue for the people who face the greatest pressure to work while sick and have the least leverage for dealing with unfair working conditions, including women, immigrants and older people.

Paid sick leave for workers would benefit all members of the Princeton community. The well-being of workers should only help employers in the long run by allowing them to best perform their work and could help prevent public health issues, particularly when it comes to food services. Far more importantly, paid sick leave is a matter of respect and dignity for the people that allow us as students, professors and administrators to lead safe and comfortable lives.

Until the University requires its contractors to provide workers with paid sick days, we can all sign this petition supporting the proposed town ordinance that would allow “everyone who works in Princeton to earn paid sick days they can use to care for themselves and their family in the event of an illness.” We should act collectively to remove the pressure for people to work while sick and abolish an unnecessary and unjust condition of precarity.

Max Grear is a sophomore from Wakefield, R.I. He can be reached at mgrear@princeton.edu.