RebelDad

Posted on 20. Oct, 2004 by Brian Reid in General

If this post is disjointed, it’s because I’m writing it during the commercial breaks in the latest installment of the greatest baseball rivalry of all time.

But … I’ve been trying to figure out what the heck happened to Mothers Ought To Have Equal Rights, a neat little effort spearheaded by Ann Crittenden that was pushing for a number of common-sense policies to make life in America more family friendly. The group has been awfully quiet, though, lately. So poking around to see what they’re up to led to me the brand-new “It’s About Time” Coalition, of which M.O.T.H.E.R. is a member.

The Coalition is a spinoff of the nice people at the Time Day organization, who are pushing for a thoughtful agenda of paid family leave, paid sick leave, overtime caps, pro-rated benefits and an Election Day holiday. (The group also points to The Project on Global Working Families, which has found that the U.S. is one of five countries in the world without paid maternity leave. We’re in the minority on paid sick leave and vacation leave, too.)

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the group has aspirations of getting their agenda to be a voting issue — next month, if possible. But the presidential candidates have paid no more than lip service to work-life balance issues, and the new coalition, in the week since its announcement, has generated exactly one media mention, according to Nexis. And I have found no discussion on the web. Despite the quiet that greeted the coalition’s establishment, I wish these folks the best of luck.