CITIZENS Barbara's Column The Salem Evening News The AFL-CIO wants paid family leave. It wants the Legislature
to pass a bill paying for it. At first glance this seems reasonable, considering that the
Legislature has been on paid leave, family or no, for most of this year. So since working people are paying for the legislative leave,
make legislators pay for workers' leave with the paychecks the politicians aren't earning, and leave me alone. Leave me alone anyhow. I'm back in western Pennsylvania,
taking care of my own family, in this case my mother -- and of course the AFL-CIO will not be satisfied with its present
proposal for leave to care for a new baby or adoptee, but will insist on expanding it
eventually to cover leave for elderly parents. Pretty soon, most of the workforce will be home changing
diapers or pushing wheelchairs. A few people without needy family will have to do the work and pay for the family leave
of the others, which seems unfair as well as untenable. So let's stop and think about the
law of unintended consequences: high taxes or employer costs, a huge labor shortage, and
of course lots of cheating as some people on leave neglect their kids and parents while still
getting a check to support their newborn leisure. At least set up some guidelines. You can start with mine: my
business partner makes me carry a cell phone at all times in case he has to reach me. This morning I am working on
my laptop, as mother's friends drop by her apartment to see what I'm selling or giving
away as we move her permanently into the nursing home. I'm not selling much except for large furniture; rather, I beg
them to take stuff that I can't possibly fit into my own five-room house. I chase them down the halls like an eastern
bazaar merchant, extolling the virtues of wine glasses, blankets, knick-knacks and
Corning Ware. I insist that they, like Cinderella, can fit their feet into
mother's size 7½ slippers if they try hard enough. And I point out that many of the items in her closet have never been
worn -- especially the clothes my son or I bought her. Now that I see them among her own choices -- black and white
checked pantsuits, polyester blouses, pastel dusters --- I wonder what we were thinking to send a gold and
sky-blue Navajo blouse, a Mexican embroidered lounger and serape, and a sweatshirt
decorated with plastic new-age symbols, though I still think the silk blouses are nice if you
like to iron. So many desk and dresser drawers, so little time. When did we
decide as a society to spend our lives accumulating? My son says I am not allowed to die until I have cleared
everything unnecessary from my house, and I promise I am going to start as soon as I get
home. The AFL-CIO's third bill will probably insist on paid
family-stuff leave: workers to get two weeks a year to clean out attics, basements and garages, as well as parents' homes
and apartments. Believe me, I sympathize with the need for more time in all
our lives for family concerns. I have been able to attend to my mother's needs this year only because, a) I can do a lot of
my job from a distance and, b) I have a job that doesn't pay much but gives me lots of
flexibility in scheduling work hours. Petition drives and ballot campaigns are marathons,
then comp time comes during legislative breaks. Somehow I think the AFL-CIO, however, is still thinking
overtime pay during heavy work-load periods, and employer-paid family leave too, regardless of how busy the
company is when the workers need it. When did businesses get responsible for what was once personal
responsibility? I can understand workman's comp and unemployment insurance, which are work-related. But
why should it be the employers' job to provide health insurance and paid
family leave? Business provides goods, services and incidentally jobs; seems that this should be enough
to fulfill its societal obligations. Better to cut federal, state and local taxes so that families
get to keep more of their money after they earn it. That would be a start, but we really need a revolution that goes beyond
taxes. Maybe it's time we think about what our society has become
since both parents started working full time in so many families. Sometimes two earners are necessary for survival,
but I'll bet a lot of us are working to accumulate things that we don't really need as much
as we need time to spend with each other and keep ourselves healthier. Too bad we can't just do a petition drive for a better, more
meaningful quality of life at our own expense. Barbara Anderson is executive director of Citizens for Limited
Taxation. Her syndicated columns appear weekly in the Salem Evening News and the Lowell Sun;
bi-weekly in the Tinytown Gazette; and occasionally in other newspapers. |