This year, 14 states and even more cities required employers to provide some form of paid sick leave.

Supporters of the Paid Sick Leave for Nebraskans ballot initiative are hoping voters will add Nebraska to the list in the 2024 election. Women, low-wage earners and workers of color disproportionately lack paid sick leave, and it's more often women who take time off when family members are ill.

Jo Giles, executive director of the Women's Fund of Omaha, an initiative sponsor, said having to balance wanting to be a great employee with caregiving needs at home can be stressful.

"We end up being in this dual role as a caregiver," Giles observed. "Having this flexibility to take time off to care for a loved one and also be able to get your same income level just reduces that burden."

About 250,000 working Nebraskans lack paid sick leave. Under the proposal, employees would accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours of work. Businesses offering benefits equal to or better than this would be exempt, along with union members and state, county and federal employees.

Those opposed to mandatory sick leave claim it leads to layoffs and businesses closing, although studies do not support the claim.

Giles stressed the plan is not about being given time off, but earning it. The law would not go into effect until October 2025.

"That was intentional on our part," Giles explained. "Because we wanted to give businesses ample time to be able to adjust, so that they could implement a process for tracking the time and for accrual, and how all of that would work for their employees."

Rural workers are also less likely to receive paid time off.

Joseline Reyna, a community organizer with the YWCA of Grand Island, another initiative sponsor, said it can be seen in the communities around Grand Island.

"A lot of the people here work in restaurants or different industries, so they don't have the certain criteria that they have to meet with paid time off," Reyna pointed out. "Sometimes it could be harder for the people in our community to get that time off, because of the type of work they're doing."

Lacking paid sick leave can also contribute to people working while they're sick. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found roughly 40% of food poisoning incidents in a two-year period were attributable to sick workers. And during the pandemic, concern rose "frontline" and "essential" workers who lacked sick leave might spread the virus.

Sierra Edmisten, a single working mother of four in Hastings, knows firsthand the struggles of needing time off for a child's medical appointments. She called it "heartbreaking" to be leaving a job she loves because it does not provide paid sick leave, but she is delighted her new job will.

"To have that is probably the most rewarding, beneficial thing I can think of in life," Edmisten asserted. "To be able to focus on my children and not be stressed."

Coaches in the Renton School District, just south of Seattle, are organizing with the American Federation of Teachers to fight for what they say are "fair wages" in their first union contract.

Buddy Ryan, head boys track and field coach at Hazen High School, said Renton coaches get paid much less compared with neighboring school districts, which contributes to a 45% turnover rate in coaches from year to year.

"I'm not expecting to go buy a new car off a season of coaching, but I'm not expecting to make minimum wage to be responsible for all these kids," he said. "I think the reality is, a fair wage for a fair day's work is what everybody looks for."

Renton School District has proposed a 2.5% wage increase, far below what the coaches asked for. AFT has said the district has the funds to pay coaches fairly. The district did not respond to a request for comment.

Ryan said the low pay and high turnover rate costs the district more money in training and degrades the quality of the sports programs.

"And then what's the cost to the kids that get a different coach every year? Well, you know what ends up happening? These parents get tired of it and they take their kids to private schools, or they move and transfer them to other schools," he said.

Ryan noted that sports, along with other extracurriculars such as band, are what motivate many kids to keep their grades up in order to participate. He said the district should want to keep the programs strong.

"It's just like when you're a kid at dinner," he said, "and your parents say, 'You've got to eat your vegetables or you don't get dessert.' Well, that dessert is the after-school activities."

Nevada groups concerned about affordability, clean air and health care are speaking out against the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" recently signed by President Donald Trump.

The new law extends tax cuts from 2017, funded partially by huge cuts to Medicaid and SNAP food benefits.

Dr. Joanne Leovy, steering committee chair for the Nevada Clinicians for Climate Action, noted it also ends the tax credit for electric vehicles on Sept. 30, which drives up the price of an EV by $7,500 while promoting the sales of gas-powered vehicles.

"This bill will dump an extra 2.1 billion tons of climate pollution into the atmosphere over the next decade," Leovy pointed out. "Increasing greenhouse gas emissions by about 7% over prior projections; the equivalent of adding more than 400,000 cars to the road."

The new law also cuts tax credits for rooftop solar and energy efficient home upgrades. Backers said the savings were necessary to fund other administration priorities, such as increased funding for immigration enforcement.

Yolanda Kemp, a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 4041, said she worries about job losses in the public sector.

"When states, cities, towns, and schools lose essential federal funding, they will be forced to make cuts to their budgets as well, putting all public services and jobs at risk of being cut," Kemp stressed. "And let me tell you, the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' that is supposed to help hardworking Americans is nothing more than another billionaire giveaway paid for by us."

The change to Medicaid and SNAP are not immediate but will be phased in mostly in 2027 and 2028.


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More than 1,100 caregivers at Portland's Providence St. Vincent Medical Center have voted to unionize, joining the Service Employees International Union Local 49.

Hospital staffers, including certified nursing assistants, cooks, lab assistants, pharmacy techs, environmental workers and patient representatives, will soon begin collective bargaining with management over a new work contract.

Finn McCool, senior food service attendant at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, said changes to working conditions in the hospital were a major driver to organize.

"There's a lot that makes St. Vincent a great place to work, but we've also seen just tons of changes over the years around staffing and benefits," McCool explained. "My fellow caregivers really knew that jobs were only going to get harder."

The St. Vincent caregivers will join thousands of other unionized workers at Providence hospitals in Oregon, Washington state and other parts of the country. Providence officials released a statement, recognizing the union and saying they were prepared to work with it toward a new contract.

McCool noted the company made several changes to staffing and work policies without feedback from its employees, with changes to the employees' health care benefits causing a major upheaval.

"It's been a recent change to our health care plan with Aetna switching over, and that was probably a very large reason why a lot of us decided to vote yes," McCool pointed out. "We had our own internal health care system. We changed to a different thing. Co-pays changed. Things were definitely a lot harder with increased deductibles."

McCool stressed political uncertainty, particularly in the government's health care policies, was also a significant concern.

"We're seeing a lot of changes going on with the government with cuts, especially right now," McCool observed. "What threatens us is cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Our CEO said, 'These cuts are threatening the hospital.'"