Unions, Family Values, and the Politics of Workplace Leave Legislation in U.S. States, 1973-2014

• In Event: 463 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 22. The Mobilization and Strategy of Unions

Abstract

The U.S. lags behind many countries in regard to workplace leave policies that allow workers to address personal illness or family caregiving responsibilities. When caregiving needs arise, U.S. workers must find individualized solutions to manage tensions in work and family obligations often at expense to their economic security and personal and family health. Given the deficit of federal workplace leave policy in the U.S., states have been adopting their own policies – creating paid family leave programs, mandating paid sick time, or expanding access to existing job-protected leave. Taking advantage of variation across states over time, this research asks: Why did some states pass workplace leave legislation quicker than other states? Using discrete-time event history analysis, this paper estimates the impact of union mobilization and social, political, and economic conditions on the passage of workplace leave legislation. With few exceptions, labor and social movement research on unions often focuses on campaigns that target employers. By focusing on the policy outcomes of union mobilization, this research brings attention to union campaigns that target the state to influence public policies that effect all workers regardless of membership.

Author

• Cassandra Dawn Engeman, University of California-Santa Barbara