03 | July | 2017 | Be a Seed for Change

Yesterday, after many years of advocacy, the Massachusetts Senate passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)!

The bill will make it illegal for most Massachusetts employers to deny reasonable accommodations to pregnant workers. Now it is one step closer to heading to the Governor’s desk, where he is expected to sign it. Massachusetts will become the 23rd state to grant explicit protections for pregnant workers in need of accommodations.

Under the PWFA, if a pregnant worker requests, for example, a few more breaks at work, or time off to recover from childbirth, or a temporary transfer to a less strenuous position, employers must grant such an accommodation unless it would be extremely difficult or expensive for them to do so. The legislation also makes clear that employers must provide a private space, other than a bathroom, to employees who are nursing and need to express breast milk at work. Women cannot be pushed out of their jobs or forced to risk their health.

This is a crucial, and hard fought, step forward for Massachusetts workers. A Better Balance has been working with advocates on this bill since 2014. We assisted in drafting the legislation, conducted legal research, authored a Letter to the Editor in the Boston Globe, co-authored a fact sheet, submitted testimony in support, negotiated with the business community, assisted with story collection and other communications support, and worked closely with local advocates and lawmakers every step of the way. For example, we had many conversations with the Massachusetts business lobby, AIM, to address some of their concerns about prior versions of the legislation. AIM now supports the legislation, demonstrating the widespread enthusiasm around this issue.

As MotherWoman, the coalition leading the PWFA effort in Massachusetts recently said, “Through a great collaborative effort among legislative sponsors, Rep. Dave Rogers, Rep. Ellen Story and Sen. Joan Lovely, our dedicated legal advocates at A Better Balance, and the team at AIM — who were so generous with their time and their attention to detail — we have a better proposal…It’s an important support for moms, children and families, and it makes good sense for both employers and employees.”

Congratulations to all those who worked on this campaign! Working families in Massachusetts have great reason to celebrate today! Please join us in spreading the good news.

1608 – The city of Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain.

1775 – U.S. Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, MA.

1790 – In Paris, the marquis of Condorcet proposed granting civil rights to women.

1844 – Ambassador Caleb Cushing successfully negotiated a commercial treaty with China that opened five Chinese ports to U.S. merchants and protected the rights of American citizens in China.

1863 – The U.S. Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, PA, ended after three days. It was a major victory for the North as Confederate troops retreated.

1871 – The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company introduced the first narrow-gauge locomotive. It was called the “Montezuma.”

1880 – “Science” began publication. Thomas Edison had provided the principle funding.

1890 – IDaho became the 43rd state to join the United States of America.

1898 – During the Spanish American War, a fleet of Spanish ships in Cuba’s Santiago Harbor attempted to run a blockade of U.S. naval forces. Nearly all of the Spanish ships were destroyed in the battle that followed.

1903 – The first cable across the Pacific Ocean was spliced between Honolulu, Midway, Guam and Manila.

1912 – Rube Marquard of the New York Giants set a baseball pitching record when earned his 19th consecutive win.

1922 – “Fruit Garden and Home” magazine was introduced. It was later renamed “Better Homes and Gardens.”

1924 – Clarence Birdseye founded the General Seafood Corp.

1930 – The U.S. Congress created the U.S. Veterans Administration.

1934 – U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) made its first payment to Lydia Losiger.

1937 – Del Mar race track opened in Del Mar, CA.

1939 – Chic Young’s comic strip character, “Blondie” was first heard on CBS radio.

1940 – Bud Abbott and Lou Costello debuted on NBC radio.

1944 – The U.S. First Army opened a general offensive to break out of the hedgerow area of Normandy, France.

1944 – During World War II, Soviet forces recaptured Minsk.

1945 – U.S. troops landed at Balikpapan and take Sepinggan airfield on Borneo in the Pacific.

1945 – The first civilian passenger car built since February 1942 was driven off the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company plant in Detroit, MI. Production had been diverted due to World War II.

i dispute the info above with the info below…could be more info out there as well

1915- The first Patterson-Greenfield car debuted in 1915 and was sold for $850. With a four-cylinder Continental engine, the car was comparable to the contemporary Ford Model T. The Patterson-Greenfield car may, in fact, have been more sophisticated than Ford’s car, but C.R. Patterson & Sons never matched Ford’s manufacturing capability

1950 – U.S. carrier-based planes attacked airfields in the Pyongyang-Chinnampo area of North Korea in the first air-strike of the Korean War.

1954 – Food rationing ended in Great Britain almost nine years after the end of World War II.

1962 – Jackie Robinson became the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

1974 – The Threshold Test Ban Treaty was signed, prohibiting underground nuclear weapons tests with yields greater than 150 kilotons.

1981 – The Associated Press ran its first story about two rare illnesses afflicting homosexual men. One of the diseases was later named AIDS.

1986 – U.S. President Reagan presided over a ceremony in New York Harbor that saw the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.

1991 – U.S. President George H.W. Bush formally inaugurated the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota.