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Guillermo is one of 1.8 million workers in NYC who need paid sick days. Can you join him to rally for sick days at City Hall tomorrow?
“I found myself out of a job and without a way to support my family – all because I got sick…”
Dozens of Working Families Party supporters have shared their stories about life without paid sick days, and Guillermo’s is one of the most heartbreaking.
Guillermo, a member of the community group Make the Road New York, used to work as a short-order cook in Brooklyn. He says he usually just kept working when he got sick – sometimes as much as 11 hours in his restaurant’s unheated kitchen. But one day he was too ill to stay on his feet:
“I got to work at 3:30 in the morning… I immediately began to feel very sick. I had a fever, my legs were shaking, and I was sweating a lot. I told my boss that I felt sick but she didn’t pay any attention. At 7:00 in the morning, when I felt that I couldn’t last much longer, I called my wife and asked her to bring me to the hospital. When my wife arrived to pick me up, my boss began to yell and insult me and said that I shouldn’t come back because she was firing me because I didn’t take my job seriously enough.”
Guillermo ended up spending three days in the hospital — and lost his job because of it.
Tomorrow at Noon, Guillermo will join Gloria Steinem, elected officials,public health experts, women’s advocates, and union and community members at a New York City Hall rally for a bill that would give all workers in New York City the right to earn paid sick leave.
Can you join us?
Yes – I’ll be there
With your help, our campaign has come a long way. The paid sick days bill now has 39 supporters on the City Council, more than 75% of all members!Tomorrow’s rally is our chance to show City Hall that New Yorkers from all walks of life support universal sick days.
As Guillermo says: Living without the right to keep yourself healthy is unjust, and will make us all sicker in the end. So let’s change that. Let’s speak out tomorrow.
Will you join us?
