Surviving the Workday

Our midwest correspondent informs us that Milwaukee is holding a referendum for paid sick leave. The usual suspects object to this: business groups, including restaurant organizations. The implications, however, are a bit more national:

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) has introduced federal legislation that would mandate paid sick leave nationwide, and 9to5 has said it wants to use the Milwaukee referendum to build support for the bill, after already successful referendums in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has backed Kennedy’s bill, and Stear said she hopes his expected Republican opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, would do so as well.

If the referendum is approved, business groups are gearing up for the possibility of legal action, citing City Attorney Grant Langley’s opinion that the ordinance might not be enforceable, Sheehy and Baas said.