FAMILY, PARENTAL AND MEDICAL LEAVE

WHEREAS, strong families are the bedrock of a productive and competitive democracy; and

WHEREAS, America's families and workforce are in the midst of a dramatic transition:

• In most families, both parents work out of economic necessity.

• One out of every four families is headed by a woman.

• 67 percent of women with children under three years old are in the workforce.

• 2.2 million family members (mostly women) provide unpaid care for seriously ill parents or other relatives.

• Women presently make up 44 percent of the work force and will constitute 50 percent of the work force by 1990; and

WHEREAS, the United States is one of the few industrialized countries without a national policy to address the family responsibilities of workers; and

WHEREAS, the Family, Parental and Medical Leave Act will provide workers with job-protected, unpaid leave for parental responsibilities and for serious illness for themselves and their families; and

WHEREAS, the AFT believes that the Family, Parental and Medical Leave Act is in the best interest of families, parents, children and our country; and

WHEREAS, some public employers have been lobbying the Congress seeking to exclude teachers and other school-related personnel from the benefits of the act:

RESOLVED, that the AFT continue to work for the swift passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, H.R. 925, in the House of Representatives and for the Parental and Medical Leave Act, S.249, in the Senate; and

RESOLVED, that AFT assist all locals to bargain strong family and medical leave provisions including financial assistance and leave for adoptive parents.