Obama's Newest Power Grab: Socialized Workplace Policies

No doubt this is how the Right will spin it.  Tell those lowly workers to suck it up, get back to work and be grateful they still have jobs.

Yesterday President Obama directed federal agencies to create more scheduling flexibility for workers so they'll be more able to juggle family needs and workplace obligations.  He said:

“The bottom line is [that] 21st-century families deserve 21st-century workplaces. And our economy demands them, because it’s going to help us compete. It’s going to help us lead. And that means paid family leave, especially paid parental leave...There is only one developed country in the world that does not offer paid maternity leave, and that is us.”

A few months ago President Obama referred to workplace policies that belong in a Mad Men episode, not in the 21st century workplace.  Yesterday Christina Hendricks, who plays Joan on Mad Men, seconded Obama's Mad Men reference, saying:  “In the 21st century the only place for a story like Joan's should be on TV.”

Obama also mentioned a report showing that the U.S. could get more people back to work if more businesses had paid parental leave policies.  He said:

“A few states have acted on their own to give workers paid family leave, but this should be available to everyone, because all Americans should be able to afford to care for a family member in need.”

As with everything else that benefits the ninety-nine percent, workplace flexibility will have to be achieved through executive authority, since Congress is still too busy repealing Obamacare and screaming about Benghazi.