No Jab, No Job

Thousands of workers choose unemployment over the COVID-19 vaccine 

Across the country, employers are firing workers for refusing to comply with vaccine mandates. Some people are opting to quit their jobs rather than take the shot.

These workers represent only a tiny fraction of overall employees, not even 1% in some workplaces. But it can add up to thousands of people in many states.

According to NPR, Washington state reports that so far, nearly 1,900 state workers, including the head football coach at Washington State University, have quit or been fired for refusing the vaccine. In Michigan, 400 workers at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit walked away from their jobs. North Carolina-based Novant Health fired about 175 employees.

In Iowa, a bill was just passed that will allow those who get fired for not complying to vaccine mandates eligible for unemployment compensation benefits. Legislators say that the bill will help businesses from being stuck between a rock and a hard place if the Biden administration follows through with its plans to require vaccine mandates for federal contractors and all businesses with more than 100 employees.

Here’s what you can do:

What do vaccine mandates or recommendations look like in your area and how would Biden’s plan affect them?

Of course, when reporting on vaccine-related matters, it’s important to talk to researchers and experts in order to get the more accurate information. Misinformation about the pandemic and vaccines have been made extremely prevalent and we do not want to add to that.

However, with a feature story like this, you also want to get the opinions for employees and employers that both support and oppose the plan. The angle isn’t necessary efficacy of vaccines, but rather, how businesses will adapt to or fight any new legislation going forward.

Sorry, Mom and Dad; back to work

Paid family leave gets cut from Democrats’ plan

Just last week, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was writing congress in support of paid family leave, and now it has been cut from the spending bill all together.

The plan had initially called for 12 weeks of paid family leave, which includes leave for new parents and elder care. That was whittled down to four and finally down to none. The Biden administration has said paid leave would make the U.S. more competitive in the global market because women are often the hardest hit by restrictive or nonexistent paid leave policies.

In a PEW Research study, among 41 countries, the U.S. is the only county without paid parental leave. The country with the most paid leave was Estonia with 86 weeks of paid leave! Thats over a year and a half!

Here’s what you can do: 

GIVE US NUMBERS. Numbers for how much families lose after having a new child. Numbers for how your country compares to others. Your readers need to see the big picture. Once the big picture is established you should zoom into your local area.

Talk to parents about why they wish (or don’t) the U.S. had better parental leave policies. Businesses will be a good source too because you can see if they would appreciate family leave or if it makes it more difficult to find workers when someone is on leave.

This topic is one that hits home for so many people — whether or not they are parents. So in order to do the story justice, go out and get as many voices as you can.

Children’s voices matter

Anti-poverty programs would reduce child neglect and abuse

A study you can read about at The Conversation shows that a state’s financial investments in public benefit programs for low-income families are associated with less child abuse and neglect. The study examined the relationship between states’ rates of child maltreatment and their annual spending per person in poverty on major benefit programs from 2010 to 2017.

Child maltreatment is a public health crisis. By age 18, at least 1 in 8 U.S. children will have experienced abuse or neglect. This leads to poorer overall health and mental health, as well as worse socioeconomic outcomes, for those individuals and society.

The Center on Poverty and Social Policy has a list here of various social programs that have effected poverty both positively and negatively.

Here’s what you can do: 

When reporting on policies that effect elementary and middle school children and how they are treated, you always need to be careful. Media reporting on children and young people should never put them at risk. For a story like this you would want the entire family’s perspective anyway.

Here are some tips to follow when reporting and interviewing children:

• Respect the dignity and rights of every child
• Make sure they know their voice is heard. So many children get silenced because we forget that their voices are just as effective as ours.
• Protect the best interests of the child. Make sure you don’t put them in an uncomfortable or dangerous situation just to get a good story.
• Don’t discriminate on what children to choose to interview
• Tell kids exactly what your intention is. Teach them about journalism and news in order for them to understand what is going on.