Dozens of Cleveland organizations are demanding paid family leave for the city’s more than 7,000 employees to care for a newborn, recently adopted child or sick family member.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Mayor Justin Bibb and Cleveland City Council’s workforce committee, 40 women’s rights, racial justice and labor groups demanded swift action to offer what several Ohio cities — including Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus — already have in place for their workers.
“When you have policies on the books that are really unequitable, which is what the city has right now, it impacts the people who need it most,” said Abby Westbrook, executive director of the gender equality group SVP Cleveland. Westbrook worked with Policy Matters Ohio to draft the letter.
Westbrook notes that women, who are typically a household’s primary caregiver, are disproportionately impacted by gaps in paid family leave policies.
“These policies are important both for economic and health reasons, but also for women’s participation in the labor force,” she said.
Ward 17 Councilmember Charles Slife, who serves on council’s workforce committee, has frequently advocated for paid family leave since he assumed office in 2019. He said he is currently working with Bibb’s administration to craft a paid family leave policy.
“It's really important for the city of Cleveland to put an important focus on the workplace and making sure that employees have not just the benefits that they need to go through everyday life, but really the benefits that are commonplace in most workplaces in 2023,” Slife said.
As Cleveland struggles to attract and retain workers, with hundreds of vacant positions slashed from the 2023 budget, Slife pointed to benefits like paid leave as a way to ease those losses.
Slife also took aim at another city policy that does not provide workers with a vacation until they've worked for the city for a year, saying Cleveland needs to “modernize” its benefit offerings.
“When we talk about our challenges in recruiting, for example, police officers, we’re asking someone to have a high stress, critical job in our community without a vacation day,” he said. “It's not that appealing.”
He said the city is currently assessing the cost of offering these competitive benefits while also ensuring that city services can still be funded, but said he does not see it as an “insurmountable barrier.”
