The Guardian: ‘A literal gut punch’: Missouri workers devastated by Republican repeal of paid sick leave

Being sick is a costly business for Bill Thompson, who worked in the fast-food industry in Independence, Missouri, for more than 30 years, and recently worked at Guitar Center until early July, when he was laid off.

“As an older worker, I have health issues from working on my feet and with my hands for many years with no breaks for eight to 10 hours a day. I have done it for 38 years now, living paycheck to paycheck,” 54-year-old Thompson said, noting in Missouri workers are not mandated breaks of any kind during work.

So when Republicans in Missouri repealed a paid sick leave mandate that the state’s voters approved by 58% after an aggressive lobbying campaign by the Missouri chamber of commerce and industry and other business industry groups, he said, “It was a literal gut punch.

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“I think we were 95% of the way on a negotiated agreement, one that I wouldn’t have been happy with, because it would have been different than what the voters had passed. But at the end of the day, elected officials, I think, weren’t so much concerned with paid sick days. I think they were more concerned with the idea that working people have power over our lives,” said Richard von Glahn, policy director at Missouri Jobs With Justice, a worker advocacy group based in St Louis that worked on the paid sick leave ballot initiative.

“I think that was the more important issue for the chamber of commerce and elected officials to try to push back on, because I think they’re really terrified that working people have a sense of our own agency in a state like this.”

He argued the paid sick leave campaign to gather signatures and speak with voters “were easy because paid sick days are such common sense to most people”.

You can read the full article on The Guardian.