The Best Investment You Will Ever Make Are Your Employees. Support SB 937 Today!

Peter Drucker, the management consultant who contributed to the practical foundations of the model business corporation, once said, “The best investment you will ever make are your employees.”

So true. Loyal employees are the most important asset of any company. Good employees turn bad ideas into good ones.

Good employees follow the process. Great employees fix the broken processes. Exceptional employees create new processes. They re-engineer broken systems, and repair relationships with clients.

To unlock the full value of such employees, there is one thing you can do today: support SB 937.

SB 937 addresses the barriers working parents face to continue breastfeeding. Under SB 937, employers would be required to have a written lactation policy and to provide employees with a safe and comfortable lactation space that meets minimum requirements. SB 937 also requires newly constructed or renovated buildings of a certain size to include lactation spaces, and requires that the State develop a model policy. These supports will ensure that working parents never have to choose between continuing to breastfeed and returning to work.

Because of your past support, SB 937 successfully passed through the California State Senate and has moved to the Assembly side of our state legislature.

Now SB 937 will be heard on Wednesday the 20th in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee. It is critical that we all send a new letter of support to this committee today!

What you need to do today:

1. Download the sample template letter of support from California Breastfeeding Coalition.
2. Send the letter of support to Assembly Member Tony Thurmond, chair of the committee, by email today to: Lorie.Alvarez@asm.ca.gov 
3. CC a copy of the letter of support to: ann.fryman@sen.ca.gov and jgerry@legalaidatwork.org

In a recent interview with Today Show, actress and nursing mom Ann Hathaway said the Ocean’s 8 co-stars stopped filming so she could pump breast milk. Unfortunately, not all mothers get that kind of support.

Many mothers have difficulty pumping breast milk while at work. Without a designated mom’s room, lucky mothers have to book conference rooms or borrow offices to in order to pump, though the conference rooms don’t always have locks and usually have windows. Not-so-lucky mothers have to pump in the bathroom.

I have first-hand experience. When I returned to work from my maternity leave, I had to pump in the bathroom stall. I had to use the communal kitchen to clean my pump and to store breast milk. And since breastfeeding wasn’t well understood or supported in the company culture, I was harassed for washing pump parts in the kitchen.

Every nursing mother, not just Hollywood stars, should get support at work, no matter where they work or who their coworkers are.

Good employers listen. Good employers make employees feel appreciated. Good employers invest in people, first. Making all Californian companies better employers, SB 937 is a good start.

And your voice can make a difference! Please be part of the change we want to see for a healthier California.

*This is an original post for San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition by To-wen Tseng.