Chicago Mayor and unions agree on 12 weeks paid parental leave.

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My posts have been light this week. We’ve been on a road trip that has taken us across Arizona, including the incredibles: Sedona and the Grand Canyon.

But the big news back home is the agreement between the Mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot and the city’s unions on 12 weeks of 100% paid parental leave.

Today, Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, with Department of Human Resources (DHR) reached an agreement with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) to expand the City’s paid parental leave policy effective January 1, 2023. Under the new policy, all City employees will receive up to twelve (12) weeks paid parental leave regardless of whether they are the birthing or non-birthing parent. With this expansion that will apply to approximately 32,000 employees, the City becomes the one of the largest cities in the Midwest and across the country to have such a progressive and innovative policy.  

This policy applies to those growing their family by birth, adoption, or foster care, as well as for those acting as a surrogate. Employees will receive 100% of their pay for up to the entirety of the 12 weeks. To be eligible for this benefit, City employees must be eligible for Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), meaning they must work for the City for at least 12 months before taking leave and worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the leave.  

Covid has put the issue of paid leave on the front burner. A number of cities have instituted 12 weeks of paid parental leave for their employees. I don’t believe that there is a bigger city than Chicago that’s implemented this family friendly policy.

Correct me if I am mistaken.

Hearing the news I flashed back to contract negotiations our local union was involved in maybe a dozen years ago.

We didn’t really have paid maternity leave. A teacher could use sick days if they had accumulated some.

But giving birth isn’t really an illness, is it?

While women teachers needed to use sick days as maternity leave, male teachers couldn’t take time for the birth of their children.

Those who used their days for child birth lost sick days and would never accumulate as many sick days - the were bankable and could be used for pension credit - as non-birthing members.

It never made sense.

We never did get the kind parental leave Chicago now has that covers both birthing and non-birthing parents, adoption and foster parents.

Back in those days we were allowed to use two sick days for bereavement purposes. And the list of which family members we could use as bereavement day was very limited.

One negotiating year we wanted to expand the list of family members we could use from our own sick days and we wanted to include the term “domestic partner” in the list.

This was way before same-sex marriage was legal.

Our board went ape shit.

They absolutely would not agree to the term or the concept.

After several back and forths a member of our union bargaining team, Mary Kay, stood up and shook her head and waved her finger at the men on the board.

“You mean to tell me and you’re telling us that a teacher in our district who has been with and loved a person for years and one passes away, they can’t take a day for their lost loved one?”

She shamed them.

The board finally came back and agreed to the expansion of the list and the use of the term, “member of the household.”

A small victory.