Being sick should not also be a burden

A healthier workplace ensures a healthier community

As an educator, my concerns are not only with my students, but also with their families. I work with families daily that are not able to care for their sick children, spouses or family members for fear of losing income or their jobs entirely.

I am in my second year of teaching third grade and I remember having a student who was visibly sick: sweaty, pale and lethargic. This 8-year-old child explained to me she had to come to school because her mom had to go to work. I couldn’t believe that a parent would send a child to school like this, but I was truly ignorant about the realities of this family. When I called her mother, the truth came out. In tears, the child’s mother explained how she couldn’t afford to miss a day of work to care for her child; this was a single-income home. This was not a mother who was neglecting her child’s health, but a mother who had to choose between making the money to keep a roof over their heads or lose a day’s pay, and potentially her job, in order to care for her child. This is a reality many families face and it’s a decision that no parent should have to make.

With this ordinance in place, teachers will be able to rest a little more easy, knowing they will have fewer sick children in their classrooms who could potentially get other children and themselves sick, and creating a more productive learning experience for everyone.

Being sick shouldn’t be a burden placed on anyone who lives in a state with high poverty, low child well-being indicators and slow job growth. This ordinance will help ensure less turnover and lower unemployment taxes that businesses will have to pay. Happy employees mean happy customers, which means higher profits. With over half of the workforce in Albuquerque already having access to sick days or PTO policies that are as generous as the Healthy Workforce Ordinance, you can imagine the leftover workforce that lacks this benefit.

Having a healthier workplace ensures a healthier community. Which we all want, right? Please vote “For” the Healthy Workforce Ordinance; it’s located on the back of the ballot.