By Hilary O. Shelton and Debra L. Ness

Hilary O. Shelton

Debra L. Ness

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - In February, we celebrated the 20^th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which was the first bill President Clinton signed into law. President Obama hailed the law, as did current and former lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle. Indeed, it was a singular accomplishment for the nation – the first national law ever to help workers balance the dual demands of job and family.

That law is making a huge difference for the country. Most directly, the FMLA allows about 60 percent of workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn, newly adopted or foster child, to recover from serious illness, or to help a close family member facing a serious health problem. When workers take leave under the FMLA, their health insurance continues and a job is waiting for them when they return.

In the 20 years since the FMLA became law, workers have used the law to take leave more than 100 million times.

The FMLA had indirect benefits, too, changing the culture by embedding in law that workers have family as well as job responsibilities. It helped create a climate in which work/family responsibilities became part of a national conversation. This has meant support for families from all communities, men as well as women, parents providing childcare as well as children providing eldercare.  It’s made our workplaces more humane and family friendly.

In these times when there is so much rancor and so little consensus, it’s important to keep in mind that passage of the FMLA did not come quickly or easily. It was a nine-year battle to get both houses of Congress to pass it at a time when we had a president who would sign it into law. It took an extraordinary coalition that included women’s, civil rights, children’s, health, labor, aging and other groups. The National Partnership led that coalition and the NAACP contributed mightily to its success. We proved that progress is possible, even in contentious times.

But for all we accomplished, it’s important to remember that the FMLA was always intended to be the first step on the road to a family-friendly nation.  And 20 years later, the country has not taken the next step. That’s a real disappointment and a painful one, because workers in our communities are being cheated out of the policies they urgently need.

The good news is that a broad coalition continues to work for family friendly policies, because we recognize that the FMLA’s unpaid leave is not sufficient to meet the needs of workers and families. Low-wage workers suffer the most. According to the Department of Labor’s 2012 survey, most often workers who forgo leave do so because they can’t afford to take leave without pay.  That survey shows that, for every two workers of color who took FMLA leave, one needed leave but could not take it.

It’s time – past time – to rectify that. The next step needs to be improving the law so it covers more workers who need to take leave for more reasons, and adopting a national paid leave insurance system that provides some wage replacement, so low-wage and part-time workers, too, can take family and medical leave when they need it most.

The country is ready. A bipartisan poll taken in November showed that, across all demographic lines, workers are struggling to balance their work and family responsibilities, and they want Congress and the president to consider new laws like paid family and medical leave insurance. African Americans, Latinos, women and young people — the very voters that decided the last election — felt strongest about the importance of congressional and presidential action: 77 percent of African Americans, 79 percent of Latinos, 69 percent of women and 68 percent of people under 30 considered it “very important.”

They are right.  It’s time to take the next step.  In February, we celebrated. But now it’s April, and 40 percent of the workforce still isn’t covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, and tens of millions of workers, many of them low-wage, still can’t afford to take the unpaid leave the law provides. When babies are born, illness strikes, or relatives need care, they either show up at work or risk losing their jobs.

We can do better. It’s time to rededicate ourselves to this issue, deepen our resolve, make some noise, and demand that lawmakers take the next step.  Making the nation more family friendly is the unfinished business of our time.

Shelton is Washington bureau director and senior vice president of policy and advocacy for the NAACP; Ness is president of the National Partnership for Women & Families

By Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

To Be Equal 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “Our nation is moving towards two societies, one black, one white - separate and unequal.” 1967 Kerner Commission

In 1963, more than a quarter-million people gathered in Washington, DC for the historic Great March for Jobs and Freedom. This was a watershed moment in American history, giving unprecedented voice to the hardships facing Blacks as they sought a fair shot at an elusive dream. In 2013, America witnessed the second inauguration of our first Black president. Much has changed in 50 years.

We now see a fair number of successful Blacks hailed as examples of the progress and possibilities that define American democracy. Most of the legal impediments preventing African Americans from learning, earning and living where they want have been removed. Unfortunately, these apparent indicators of improvement cannot lead us to conclude that Blacks in America have overcome. A veneer of progress cannot remove the stains of inequality that still exist in our country. As we simultaneously commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, we are still on the march for economic and social equality.

The battlefield may look different, but the most pressing demands of today mirror the ones faced by those gathered in Washington, DC on that August afternoon in 1963: economic equality, educational opportunity and parity, and civil rights. However, instead of fighting against employment discrimination or a $2 minimum wage, we now fight for job training and wage equity. Instead of calling for school segregation to end, we now demand an end to disparities in educational investment. Instead of calling for meaningful civil rights legislation, we now fight to preserve voting rights and affirmative action -- those very rights for which our ancestors fought and died.

Next week, the National Urban League will release the 37th edition of the State of Black America report, which takes a 50-year retrospective look at economic and educational equality in America. I have seen the findings and studied them, and I am more convinced than ever that there remains much for us to do.

As I pointed out in an appearance on CNN last week, the so-called housing “recovery” clearly demonstrates that we are in “a tale of two Americas” -- one where the rich are surging ahead while the average American is getting squeezed out -- again. Further Blacks and Hispanics are faring even worse. The findings from the 2013 State of Black America, Redeem the Dream: Jobs Rebuild America make that painfully clear.

America is at a critical juncture. If we are to continue on the road to full economic recovery, every American needs access to jobs with a living wage and good benefits. Every child deserves access to the best schools, the best teachers and the best education in the world. Without that commitment, we will continue to see America, as the 1967 Kerner Commission put it, “moving towards two societies…separate and unequal.”

But persistent problems require sustainable solutions. Next week, we will begin to move that conversation forward.

 By Benjamin Tod Jealous

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Coming the day after the 45^th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the new unemployment numbers show that unemployment is still high – and remains much higher for African-Americans.

One thing hasn’t changed in the last half century: if you’re a person of color, you’re more likely to be unemployed. Even though the black unemployment rate fell by .05 percent this month, it still sits at nearly 13.3 percent, nearly double the overall rate.

This gap in employment has led to an economic divide between the richest and the poorest in America that is about as bad as in the divide in Rwanda and Serbia. The top 20 percent of Americans earn 50.2 percent of income, while the bottom 20 percent earns just 3.3 percent. Yet Congress continues to do nothing to directly address unemployment.

This is a dangerous trend. Recent studies – including one by the International Monetary Fund – show that countries with higher levels of economic inequality have slower growth rates, and that “economic inclusion corresponds with robust economic growth”. Urban economies affect the prosperity of the entire surrounding region, and ultimately the country as a whole.

As our country grows more diverse, we must also acknowledge that economic inequality is closely tied to race, due to decades of past and ongoing discrimination. And this inequality undermines the racial progress that we have achieved.

As Dr. King asked in 1968, “What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn't earn enough money to buy a hamburger and a cup of coffee?”

In the last year of Dr. King’s life, he was organizing the Poor People’s Campaign. He endorsed the Freedom Budget, a document that called for massive investments in public works and infrastructure, job training and education programs, and a higher minimum wage. The Budget insisted that smart investments in our most vulnerable citizens will spur economic growth.

Unfortunately, this plan never moved forward. But its message proved prophetic, and Dr. King’s economic agenda is still relevant today. A strong and sustainable economic recovery requires an economic climate in which all Americans – regardless of race or class – can expect hard work to be rewarded with a steady job. This is not a partisan issue – it is an American issue. And Congress needs to act now.

Earlier this year the National Black Leaders Coalition came up with solutions for fixing the current unemployment crisis. They included implementing important parts of the American Jobs Act to revitalize urban areas; funding the Urban Jobs Act to create youth jobs programs; and increasing the minimum wage. These policies echoed King’s recommendations 45 years earlier.

In 1962 Dr. King said, “There are three major social evils in our world today: the evil of war, the evil of economic justice, and the evil of racial injustice."

Fifty years later, need to recognize that inaction is not a policy option; it has been tried; and it hasn’t worked. Let’s try something new. Let’s recommit ourselves to Dr. King’s economic principles and advance an economic agenda that bridges our nation’s divides and fosters an economic recovery in which all can benefit.

Benjamin Todd Jealous is President and CEO of the NAACP