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2013 IN REVIEW: Nutter Vetoes Paid Sick Leave Bill

By Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A paid sick leave bill died on the floor of Philadelphia City Council, after Mayor Nutter vetoed the measure for a second time in three years.

The rafters were filled with municipal workers who sided with the paid sick leave crowd. Businesses against it were booed and hissed, and Council President Clarke had to intercede.

A Managing Partner at the upscale Prime Rib restaurant in the Warwick Hotel, is Garth Weldon:

"This is white knuckle time in business, not paid sick leave time," he said.

Chamber of Commerce President Rob Wonderling says it would amount to an 'unfunded mandate from the city'."

"It's well intentioned, but it's poorly timed and probably better left to state and federal governments to address."

The bill's sponsor, Councilman Bill Greenlee, was able to get the measure passed.:

"This doesn't hurt businesses the way they think it will."

Greenlee argues it's a health issue as much as an economic one, since ill workers can get other workers sick:

"Workers lose more time if they're forced to come in sick and then have to take off more time later."

But he fell one vote short of the twelve votes needed on Council to override Mayor Nutter's veto.

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