As Netflix Continues to Hold Strong to Its Discriminatory Parental Leave Policy, Activists Protest at Headquarters
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR: Tuesday, September 1, 2015
CONTACT:
UltraViolet: Andrea Alford, 703-477-1075, andrea@fitzgibbonmedia.com
NARAL: Rachel Boyer, 202.973.3032, rboyer@prochoiceamerica.org
Working Families Party: Joe Dinkin, 978 223 5868, jdinkin@workingfamilies.org
Democracy for America: Neil Sroka, 847-219-8491, neil@democracyforamerica.com
Make It Work: Grace Munns, 646-200-5330, grace.munns@berlinrosen.com
Coworker.org: Tim Newman, Campaigns Director, (617) 823-9464, tim@coworker.org
**VISUALS: Signs of Netflix’s parental leave benefits are “buffering” at 1%; fake Netflix DVD sleeves with members’ comments (to be slapped onto Netflix property)**
TUESDAY at 12pm PST: As Netflix Continues to Hold Strong to Its Discriminatory Parental Leave Policy, Activists Protest at Headquarters
Broad Coalition Descend on Media Giant HQ to Demand Changes to Parental Leave Policy
LOS GATOS, Calif. – On Tuesday, September 1, a broad coalition of activists – from organizations including UltraViolet, NARAL, Working Families Party, Democracy for America, Make It Work, and Coworker.org—will descend on Netflix’s headquarters to protest against the company’s discriminatory parental leave program and demand that they expand the program beyond their wealthiest workers.
WHEN: Tuesday, Sept 1, 12pm PST
WHERE: Netflix HQ, 100 Winchester Circle, Los Gatos, CA 95032
WHO: UltraViolet, Coworker.org, NARAL, Working Families Party, Democracy for America, Make It Work
SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Amy Everitt, the State Director of NARAL Pro-Choice California
Maria Noel Fernandez, Campaign Director of Silicon Valley Rising
Katie Bethell, mother and Working Families Party member
Melissa Byrne, organizer for UltraViolet
The groups have collected over 100,000 signatures after a closer look at Netflix’s “unlimited” parental leave policy exposed that only employees making as much as $300,000 would get to benefit from the policy–not the lower-paid employees who need parental leave the most.
“Netflix is struggling to defend why its new parental leave isn’t offered to ALL of its employees, said Shaunna Thomas, co-founder of UltraViolet. “Netflix is leaving workers who could benefit the most from a generous paid leave policy behind and that is unacceptable. With childcare costs skyrocketing nationwide, hourly workers at Netflix need parental leave more urgently than ever. For that reason, people are watching Netflix right now to see if they do the right thing.”
View UltraViolet’s petition, signed by more than 48,145 people here: http://act.weareultraviolet.org/sign/netflix_leave/
“Neflix’s unlimited family leave policy for highly paid workers was a splashy premier, but we’re more than ready to skip ahead to season two, and see the company offer the same policy to all their workers,” said Amanda Johnson, Working Families Party digital director.
View Working Families Party’s petition, signed by 20,200 people here:
http://action.workingfamilies.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=11567
“It’s wrong for Netflix to create two classes of employees. Already, there’s a divide between higher income earners (especially in the tech industry) and low wage workers in terms of access to important benefits like parental leave,” said Shannon Murphy, creator of the petition on Coworker.org. “Netflix shouldn’t be contributing to this inequality within its own company. The warehouse workers and customer service employees deserve to benefit from the same ‘freedom and responsibility’ culture Netflix says it works to create.”
View Coworker.org’s petition, signed by 7,846 people here: https://www.coworker.org/p/NetflixPaidLeave
“While we were encouraged by Netflix’s initial announcement expanding their parental leave policy, by leaving out certain of its workers, Netflix is creating two classes of employees,” said the co-founder of the Make It Work campaign, Vivien Labaton. “And that just isn’t good enough for the hundreds of working women and men who are left without the chance to earn their way and take care of their loved ones.”
View Make It Work’s petition, signed by 6,255 people here:
http://action.makeitworkcampaign.org/page/s/netflix?source=em150817
“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,” said Sasha Bruce, senior vice president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. “Netflix has an opportunity to course correct and treat ALL their employees fairly and equally if they’re going to claim to be concerned about employees having the flexibility and confidence to balance the needs of their growing families without worrying about work or finances. Americans are watching what Netflix does next.”
View NARAL’s petition, signed by 24,437 people here:
http://actnow.prochoiceamerica.org/sign/150812_netflix/
“The need for family leave doesn’t discriminate between hourly and salaried employees, and neither should Netflix’s policy,” said Mia Moore, Chief of Staff for Democracy for America. “When they offer all employees equal benefits, we’ll applaud Netflix for setting the standard and being a national leader in family leave policies.”
View Democracy For America’s petition, signed by 2,225 people here:
http://act.democracyforamerica.com/sign/netflix/
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UltraViolet is an online community of over 700,000 women and men who want to take collective action to expose and fight sexism in the public sector, private sector and the media. Find out more at WeAreUltraViolet.org.