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The long struggle to establish earned sick and safe time for workers in Duluth has gone into more public listening sessions.
The task force commissioned by the City Council made a presentation to that body at the end of June with some options. Among those options was having no ordinance in the city.
The task force decided to hold three more listening sessions in July to provide citizens of Duluth the opportunity to provide feedback on various options such as what workplaces could be covered, which employees could be covered, how much time could employees accrue, when any such paid leave could be used, enforcement options, etc.
The final session is this Thursday, July 27, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Community Action Duluth, 2424 W. 5th St.
People can also provide feedback at www.surveymonkey.com/r/MBPW97R
In all, there will have been a dozen public feedback sessions by the time the task force meets to craft a final recommendation to the City Council.
A statewide effort for earned sick and safe time was kicked off at a press conference in Duluth on Feb. 3, 2015. The “Minnesota Benefits” campaign chose Duluth for its start because 46 percent, or about 19,500 workers, in the Duluth/Hermantown/Proctor area lack the benefit. St. Louis County as a whole is even worse with over 50 percent without it.
The Earned Sick and Safe Leave Task Force began meeting in November 2016.
In spite of a two-and-a-half year campaign, the Duluth business community is now crying “foul” and saying they are being rushed into a benefit that will kill their bottom line.
Details about the taskforce are available at the City Council website.