From Here to Paternity: Women's Rights Groups Plan to Storm Netflix Headquarters

With the passage of the the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993, new mothers are entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave in the U.S. This makes America one of just two nations in the world that does not guarantee paid maternity leave; Papua New Guinea is the other. Compared to countries that offer up to a year of fully paid leave, this is some bullshit.

Netflix is one company that recognized this injustice and announced earlier this month that the streaming service will offer unlimited paid parental leave up to a year after childbirth to its corporate employees. This landmark news was followed by Microsoft and Adobe announcing similar policy shifts. Clearly, Netflix is a leader in its industry—and that's why women's advocacy groups are demanding Netflix to extend "unlimited leave" for new parents to its hourly employees who work in the company's DVD distribution and customer service centers. According to ThinkProgress, these low-wage employees currently only have the option for unpaid leave, which would put a huge strain on a mother who only makes $13 an hour.

NARAL, along with a coalition of six other advocacy groups—Coworker.org, Working Families Party, Democracy For America, Make It Work, and UltraViolet—has organized multiple petitions on behalf of Netflix's hourly workers that have so far gained over 100,000 signatures. Sasha Bruce, NARAL's Senior VP of Campaigns, says the next step is to take the fight for workers' and mothers' rights straight to Netflix's front door. The organization plans to rally with their supporters on September 1st at Netflix's Los Gatos, California headquarters and hand deliver their petition.

"The reason why we're going after Netflix is two-fold," Bruce tells Broadly. "One: because it's wrong to treat workers on a have and have-not basis. And two: this is a really critical opportunity to bring this conversation to the American people who believe that our society needs to recognize paid paternity leave for all workers. We see this as a first step in organizing momentum around the parental leave movement."

NARAL's Bay Area chapter has also been engaged in outreach with the estimated 400 to 500 Netflix employees who are left out of the company's new policy, though the exact number of employees who are joining in the rally have yet to be identified.

Studies have shown that paid parental leave results in women's increased participation and longevity in the labor market, plus less reliance on public assistance. "Parental leave is a core part for holistic reproductive rights for families. Lower income workers are no less deserving of the best health benefits that a company can offer, but that's the message that Netflix is sending to its employees and the business community at large," says Bruce.

However, Claudia Goldin, a Harvard economics professor who authored a study that found the wage gap between men and women could be reduced by changes in how jobs are structured, brings up the concern that parental leave for unskilled employees just doesn't make economic sense for businesses. "High-wage workers, we usually think and in most cases, have what's called specific human capital, so they're valued more by their firm," Goldin says. "If they left, the firm would actually take a hit, so the firm wants to keep them. Workers who are in the operations end might be easily replaced [giving firms less incentive to offer them benefits]."

While risk might be involved, Bruce insists that the issue of parental leave is not only a values or moral proposition, but one that is economically sound. "Keeping employees both happy and healthy can lead to less turnover within a company. That can actually improve the bottom line. With less turnover companies won't have to train as many employees and that's true for both lower-income workers and corporate staff."

Currently, California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island have state programs that allow women to collect disability insurance to make up for a portion of lost wages while on unpaid maternity leave, but this is far from an ideal or wide-reaching solution. Until the federal government supports full paternal leave for both new mothers and fathers, organizations like NARAL are leaning hard on private companies. "In addition to the states that are considering parental leave and the states that have passed it, businesses could lead this charge," says Bruce. "It's in their own best interests as well as the interests of their workers."

Netflix declined to comment for this story, stating that they are "not doing interviews at this time."

If you're interested in joining NARAL's rally at Netflix, supporters are meeting on Tuesday, September 1st at 12:00PM. Netflix's headquarters is located at 100 Winchester Circle, Los Gatos, CA 95032.