Hundreds of community and business leaders rallied on the steps of City Hall Wednesday to demand paid sick days for women workers.
They gathered to voice their support for a bill that would guarantee paid sick time for women with lower-paying jobs.
Advocates said the measure would help ensure they won't lose their jobs if they or their children get sick, adding it's long overdue.
"Women leaders have accomplished so much in moving this country and economy forward," said Ai-Jen Poo of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. "This is the next great step."
"Central to economic recovery is good jobs and driving health care costs down must be a key priority for our city," said Maria Castaneda, the secretary-treasurer of 1199 SEIU-UHE. "Providing paid sick leave for workers helps achieve those goals."
Opponents of the bill called it well-meaning but misguided and said it would drive up the cost of doing business in the city.
Sick paid advocates state their case:
Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer and Ana Maria Archila, the executive director of the group Make the Road New York, told Inside City Hall’s Errol Louis why New York City needs sick pay legislation.
"Today, with 12,600 dues-paying members, MRNY is a unique amalgam of worker center, legal clinic, citizenship school, mutual aid society, policy shop, protest factory and church. Its four offices in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island are an egalitarian oasis for members, who gather there for conversation and classes..."
