Mayor Bill de Blasio is finally throwing his support behind paid vacation time — five years after it was first introduced by a city councilman — just as he’s made compensated leave a central component of his presidential stump speech.
“This is about putting working people first,” de Blasio said at a City Hall press conference Tuesday.
“Working People First” is the mayor’s 2020 campaign slogan.
The mayor seemed jet lagged from his weekend trip to Las Vegas where he continued his crapshoot White House bid.
“I know it’s Monday morning but we got to get energized for a good cause here,” the mayor said Tuesday to a confused crowd of union activists.
He then introduced a nanny from the National Domestic Workers Alliance as “Marina Smith” even though her last name is “James.”
The mayor ignored the lapses and plowed ahead, saying the issue affects 1 million New Yorkers who don’t get any paid personal time in industries like construction, retail and domestic services. The proposed law would be the first of its kind in the nation.
The initial hearing on the bill is Tuesday. The legislation obligates employers with five or more workers to offer 10 days of annual paid leave for any reason. It would also apply to employers with one or more domestic workers as well as part and full time employees. Violators would be subject to fines ranging from $500 to $1,000.
Andrew Rigie, director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, criticized the legislation.
“Another sweeping mandate that’s going to fall on the shoulders of small business owners is just misdirected,” Rigie said.
New Yorkers already receive a week of paid sick leave each year.
Then-City Councilman Jumaane Williams first proposed the bill in 2014 before he was elected public advocate.
Asked why he was taking up the fight for paid leave five years later de Blasio said he prioritized other progressive initiatives like the $15 minimum wage and free pre-K.
“You move an aggressive agenda, but you still have to sequence that agenda,” he said.
“I want to thank the public advocate because he was ahead of his time,” he said to Williams, who joined the press conference as it was underway.
In an awkward moment Williams was asked by a reporter if he still believes that de Blasio’s “eyes haven’t been on being the mayor of the City of New York.” The public advocate made the remark on Fox 5’s “Good Day New York” the day the mayor announced his presidential run.
“I’m reassured that in a couple of weeks, a couple of months, we’re going to have paid personal time,” he said, narrowing his response to the issue at hand.
