New York - New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, President Vincent Alvarez today released the following statement regarding Mayor Bill de Blasio's and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito's announced push to expand the city’s Earned Sick Time law to cover roughly 300,000 additional workers:

"A healthy workforce is a more dedicated and focused workforce. I applaud Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Vivierito for taking this step in the right direction toward expanding the historic Earned Sick Time law that was passed last year, and making it a real priority to improve conditions for hundreds of thousands of our city's workers.

"The New York City labor movement is committed to continuing to work with the Mayor and the Speaker to ensure that our city's workers are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. "

Proposal highlights include the requirement  that employers with between 5 and 14 employees provide paid sick days to workers; the immediate implementation of paid sick days, instead of waiting until 2015; workers’ ability to use earned sick time to care for a grandchild or grandparent; the inclusion of certain manufacturing businesses that were previously exempt from the current law. #