The mayor wants New Yorkers to take a paid vacation

Mayor Bill de Blasio, First Lady Chirlane McCray and advocates rallied for historic paid time off legislation on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of the Mayor’s Office.

By Victoria Merlino

Mayor Bill de Blasio, feminist activist Gloria Steinem and other workers rights’ advocates rallied in favor of legislation that would mandate paid time off for workers in New York City on Tuesday, the same day the City Council held a hearing on the bill.

The Paid Time Off measure would be the first like it in the country, and would especially impact the 900,000 New Yorkers currently without any paid personal time, de Blasio said.

“Working people have been working longer and harder with very little to show for it,” de Blasio said in a statement. “Too many people in this city aren’t guaranteed any time off — not a single day. That means choosing between earning a paycheck and your kid’s dance recital, helping your parent move into a nursing home, or that vacation you’ve been saving for. That’s not what New York City is about.”

The legislation would require businesses with more than five employees, or private employers with one or more domestic workers, to provide them with 10 annual days of paid personal time to be used for any purpose.

The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not mandate any paid time off for workers, according to a statement from the Mayor’s Office.

“For decades, labor unions, through collective bargaining with management, won benefits for working people in an environment largely created by business,” said Queens Council Member I. Daneek Miller, chair of the Committee on Civil Service and Labor. “Through these efforts a better framework for both the worker and enterprise was created. The legislation being heard in our committee today seeks to build on these efforts and marks a historic moment for working people.”

De Blasio first announced his support for the legislation in January, and has renewed his advocacy during his presidential bid. At the news conference, Steinem said she would support de Blasio for president, according to New York City Patch.

"Mayor de Blasio is among my top four choices for president and the only male human being who is on that list,” she said, according to Patch.