As Bert Zipperer put it, the Council had a rare opportunity to take a vote on the "conscience of Madison." In contrast to the Chamber of Commerce's doom and gloom scenarios, Barbara Wright, owner of the Dardanelles restaurant on Monroe Street, said she didn't understand why this was such a big deal; she called the proposal a "safety net" and something that she can afford to do for her employees. Lindsey Lee, owner of Cargo Coffee and Ground Zero coffee, said that this ordinance was "small potatoes." And Linda Curtis, a single mother of two, who waited hours with her small children to get her chance to speak, urged the Council to take action to benefit thousands of single moms like herself throughout our city. Too many of you to list here shared personal and powerful reasons why this ordinance was so critically needed.

Unfortunately, in this round of the debate, a majority of the Common Council, instead of doing what they knew was the right thing to do, and what their constituents wanted them to do, succumbed to the Chamber of Commerce's big money campaign, unsubstantiated scare tactics and dire predictions. Several members of the Council - particularly Brian Benford, Tim Gruber, Judy Olson, Robbie Webber, Mike Verveer and Brenda Konkel - showed great leadership and support for this issue; others, including Santiago Rosas, Tim Bruer and Lauren Cnare, ignored their constituents' wishes and the clear support from the community in voting down this ordinance.

But we urge you to not give up. The city council vote loss is just a temporary setback in what will eventually be victory for us. The groundswell of support from such a broad and diverse coalition of Madison's religious, labor, social service, community, poverty, housing, and progressive organizations is truly unprecedented and inspiring. Several alders said they have not ever seen such overwhelming and broad support for a piece of legislation. The 45 organizations that make up the Healthy Families, Healthy City Coalition were made even stronger by the incredible grassroots mobilization of support from ordinary residents across this city, who flooded the email inboxes and voicemails of the Common Council members and Mayor Cieslewicz with their support.

This incredible nine-month campaign, launched on the same steps of the City County building where we also held our pre-vote rally last Tuesday night, has made real to Madison the realities of Madison's low-wage workforce and the often harsh realities of life for the thousands of hardworking Madison residents who struggle every day to make ends meet. This campaign has illustrated, again and again, how for many Madison workers, the idea of "choice" - in where they work, the benefits or compensation they receive, and the conditions in which they work - is simply nonexistent. This campaign has illustrated how for so many workers, there is no opportunity to "negotiate" with their employers for better benefits. They take what hours, pay and conditions they're offered or they're shown the door.

This fight is not over. Madison overwhelmingly supports a guarantee of paid sick leave. You have made that clear through your tremendous and sustained support of this campaign. We invite you to join with us to continue this critical fight to raise standards for Madison's most vulnerable workers. The disappointment of Tuesday's vote is already turning into numerous exciting opportunities for further action: the possibility of a spring 2007 referendum campaign; clearly necessary challenges in several aldermanic districts to get a more responsive, more progressive Common Council; statewide efforts to secure paid sick leave; the possibility of seeking additional funds and support for childcare, apprenticeship and job training programs to support low-income families...the list goes on.

If you share our disappointment about Tuesday's vote but are willing to join with us in continuing this fight to not only get paid sick leave for Madison's workers, but to continue to raise awareness about the real life issues and struggles of so many of these Madison families, we urge you to send those sentiments to the rest of the Common Council and Mayor Cieslewicz at allalders(at)cityofmadison(dot)com and mayor(at)cityofmadison(dot)com. Lets show 'em this mobilization isn't going anywhere soon.

And if you're interested in getting connected to the next steps the coalition takes, please just contact us at healthyfamilies(at)gmail(dot)com.

Thank you for all you did to make this campaign such an inspiration. Looking forward to reaching victory with you all soon!