Ask Target to expand paid leave to ALL employees
My name is Callie and I’m 9 months pregnant, due to give birth to my first child any day now. I’m excited to bring life into this world and raise a good person.
My boyfriend works full-time and it still may not be enough to rely only on his paycheck when our baby comes and I have to take off work.
I work at a Target in Maryland and will only get 6-8 weeks of short term-disability and maybe 2 weeks of parental leave IF I qualify. Managers have been docking people’s hours (including mine) so that people can’t get these benefits. It’s been confusing and so stressful, and I don’t really know how we’re going to get by when our baby arrives.
I want to breastfeed and I need time to recover.
I know that paid family leave is a national problem, but over the last couple of years many big companies that are like Target have started offering good paid leave policies to all of their employees, including people working part-time.
Target is a place where families can ‘expect more, pay less,’ but this shouldn’t come at the expense of employee’s ability to provide for their own families. Our wages are so low that we’ve had to apply for some support programs. But with the government shutdown, a lot of this stuff is about to be cut off and it’s honestly really scary.
Working inconsistent hours, not getting paid a living wage, putting my health and safety at risk, and that of my unborn child, is just wrong. Target does not show employees the respect and dignity we deserve. I’m so glad to have the support of Target Workers Unite, an independent initiative run by rank and file Target team members who are working to make Target jobs good jobs.
Thank you in advance for showing YOUR support. If Target had a good paid family leave policy it would make all the difference in the world right now. Many future Target employees will have babies and I want to make sure that their experience is so much better than mine has been. Our babies and our families deserve better.
-- Callie Leamy,
TWU Member and PL+US supporter
P.S. I want to give my daughter the most fulfilled life that she can have. So if you’re able to, please also consider donating to my family. We need urgent help with housing and food.
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