DSA's Paid Leave Scheme Will Destroy Jobs When Young Families Need Them Most

Jun 09, 2026
Beth Brelje
Economy

The socialist plan to defeat capitalism will destroy small business and put you out of work. Not that their big union cronies care.

When workers join modern unions, their dues are used to enrich the union and advance nice-sounding, culture-damaging, socialist policies—like Pittsburgh's paid parental leave plan.

A quiet collaboration between union bosses, leftist politicians, and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) promises to fundamentally transform the United States from a capitalist society to a socialist one, DSA has its fingers both in politics—working to get socialists such as Zohran Mamdani and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in power at every level of government—and labor unions, training workers to grind local economies to a halt until they cave to the Left's demands.

This is unfolding right now with Pittsburgh's job-killing public health amendment, spreading all across Pennsylvania. It's a declaration of war on local businesses. Companies will close or cut jobs, leaving families with worse service and fewer choices—which is bad enough at a restaurant, but lethal at a hospital.

This is how nice cities become hellholes.

Paid Parental Leave Proliferation

The Allegheny County Health Department has proposed a rule requiring all businesses in the county provide 18 weeks of fully paid parental leave. If passed, it will be the longest and most expansive paid family leave policy in the nation. The rule applies to all businesses with one or more employees within Allegheny County (population 1.2 million), which encompasses the city of Pittsburgh.

Under the rule, employers are obligated to provide new moms more than four months' paid time off, plus benefits. And it applies to new dads too—18 weeks paid paternity leave when your spouse or partner has a baby. Adoptive parents also get the benefit. Grandparents who take on a child to raise get paid too. Even foster parents who have a new child placed in their home are covered. Did you recently marry someone with children? Take 18 weeks off work with pay and get to know your stepchildren—the rule is for new stepparents too.

Just like Covid restrictions, this plan is sold as beneficial for public health, according to the unelected board of health that is pushing the policy. A county statement calls the plan a "critical public health strategy."

It's hard to argue against the benefits of parents spending more time with children, until you consider the real-world consequences. Imagine the financial hit to an ice cream parlor, auto repair shop, or any other business when one or more employees take parental leave. Now the employer must pay new parents to stay at home and find another employee willing to take a four-month gig (assuming the employee returns after paid leave), train the replacement, and pay them too. The employer must pay two full-time salaries for the work of one, or limp along with an empty position. Businesses will have to make difficult adjustments, like hiring fewer full-time employees, ordering less inventory, cutting services, or closing.

Reliable work with good pay is the best way for families to thrive. This plan will steal that opportunity from young parents by killing good jobs.

It would be great if companies choose to attract workers by offering this benefit. Some already do. Perhaps a small company can offer three weeks and a larger one can offer 20 weeks. But to mandate it across the board inflicts another wound on businesses amidst the socialist death-by-a-thousand-cuts-strategy.

The Allegheny County policy change is in the middle of a public comment period, ending June 16. The board will likely have enough votes to pass it in July.

The DSA has advocated for paid family leave for new parents for years. It is a core socialist strategy and that is why DSA aims to expand the policy beyond Pittsburgh.

State Sen. Nick Pisciottano, a socialist representing Allegheny County has proposed a similar statewide policy, giving 12 weeks paid time off for new parents after the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child in their home. Senate Bill 1241. Similar Senate Bill 906 also shoots for paid family leave. Word in the hallways of the Pennsylvania Capitol building is, this legislation is ready to move this week.

The Union Connection 

Coincidentally, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Pennsylvania has added the exact parental leave policy to its list of demands in contract negotiations with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Magee Women's Hospital. Nearly 1,000 UPMC Magee nurses voted to unionize last year. SEIU is now negotiating its first contract with the hospital, with full-throated support from Pennsylvania's Democrat lawmakers.

Now suddenly, the call for paid parental leave is everywhere, Allegheny County, state Senate and House bills, and union negotiations. Who is behind this?

It is not surprising that SEIU is pressing for Allegheny County's parental leave model considering it owns local politicians.

Innamorato spoke at SEIU rallies to unionize Magee Women's Hospital. So did U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, who also has an on-again-off-again relationship with DSA.

SEIU-endorsed state Sen. Nikil Saval (DSA), state Reps. Rick Krajewski (DSA), Chris Rabb (DSA), Elizabeth Fiedler (DSA-endorsed) and Sen. Nick Pisciottano—all have advocated for hospitals to unionize, which will greatly increase SEIU's take on union dues.

Photo-Nick-P.png

Politicians get more than endorsements from SEIU. They get cash donations and the union mobilizes its members to door knock for candidates. SEIU members went door to door for Innamorato, handing out anti-UPMC flyers with her pro-union campaign promises. The union says it has 80,000 members in Pennsylvania. That is a lot of votes.

This is why union-owned politicians bully businesses during contract negotiations. On May 15, four Democratic state senators, Jay Costa, Wayne Fontana, Nick Pisciottano, and Lindsey Williams sent a letter to UPMC on Senate letterhead, warning the hospital that they did not like the direction of union negotiations at Magee.

"We will continue to stand with the frontline workers at UPMC Magee and monitor these negotiations closely. We expect the health system to return to the bargaining table in good faith, focusing on the real issues of staffing and fair compensation, to ensure that Magee remains a premier place to work and receive care," the letter reads.

It's an intimidation tactic. When senators who have the power to write damaging legislation put their thumb on the scale in favor of the union, it interferes with countless businesses—and the everyday families who depend upon them.

The DSA Connection

Members of the Allegheny County Board of Health are appointed by County Executive Sara Innamorato. A former DSA member, Innamorato split from DSA on paper, yet still acts like a socialist and cooperates with other elected DSA members.

SEIU also has a symbiotic relationship with DSA, mobilizing union members to march for DSA causes, making DSA and SEIU policy goals indistinguishable. SEIU and DSA both sponsored and marched in the far-left No Kings rallies.

DSA influences unions like SEIU, and unions influence politicians. What policy will they push next? Will they force hospitals workers to castrate kids, perform late term abortions, or mandate other so-called "care" even if individual workers disagree with it?

DSA actively encourages members to plan their careers around activism. Socialist infiltration of the workplace is intentional and organized through unions.

"[DSA] chapter labor committees can set up regular meetings for those getting new jobs, along with mentoring from more experienced comrades or from experienced non-DSA union members who know the lay of the land in your new local," the DSA website instructs. "In the best case the chapter supports the union member, and the union member creates connections from their union to the chapter and recruits co-workers to DSA."

The DSA urges that members building careers "should consider taking jobs in strategic workplaces where they can organize with other socialists."

Its top targets for infiltration: education and healthcare, DSA says. From these positions, DSA can influence parents, students, and patients. People trust teachers and will listen when schools close, DSA reasons. And nurses are well positioned to fight for Bernie Sanders' proposed Medicare for All plan.

"A strategic sector could also be one that is central to the economy and thus causes disruption when workers strike, as in the 1997 walkout at UPS (logistics) or the 2019 strike at General Motors (manufacturing)," the group's website says. "Manufacturing is still a huge profit center in the US economy. Workers who bring down a cascading number of employers feel their power. National sectors generally offer greater organizing opportunities; the Postal Service, grocery and retail chains, airlines, telecom, and many others fit the bill."

We all know how damaging the teachers union has been for education, putting woke ideas into the classroom. The current effort to unionize more hospitals, including nurses and doctors, is a troubling omen. Do you want your oncologist researching new treatments or protesting ICE in his free time?

Workers who pay union dues are being used by the DSA, through the union, to advance socialism. Perhaps that is how a Minneapolis nurse ended up shot and killed while protesting ICE in January.

Political Protesting Beyond Work Conditions 

In September 2025, DSA adjacent congresswomen Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Amy Klobuchar met with Minnesota American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union members complaining that President Donald Trump had terminated union contracts with Veterans Administration hospitals.

Alex Pretti, an AFGE member, (although he was separated from his job) was on the streets aggressively protesting ICE while carrying a gun. Pretti was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent.

Unions used his death to advance the DSA's goal to abolish ICE.

"Everyone's freedoms are at risk," Pennsylvania SEIU said in a statement it issues about Pretti. "We are united to stop these barbaric attacks, protect our patients and communities, and stand up for our country,"

The SEIU National Nurse Alliance chair, Martha Baker, also issues a highly political statement, using Pretti's death for politics.

"When a nurse is killed for trying to help others, none of us are safe, and ICE must be removed from our communities now," Baker said. "We will not stop organizing and speaking out. We must ensure that this tragedy is a turning point, and not allow it to break our momentum. Alex was there to help. ICE was there to hurt. We won't forget him."

But without the union, maybe he would not have been there at all. Did Pretti's politically active union radicalize and mobilize him?

This is how poison spreads.

Socialism demands that businesses are owned or strictly regulated by the government. If you enjoy going to the DMV to get your driver's license, if you think the best part of flying is the TSA security line, if you loved Covid lockdowns—socialism might be for you.

But if you think the government is likely to mess up everything it manages, or if you want abundant jobs with good pay—stop paying dues to your local union and stop electing union-funded candidates. It all leads to socialism.

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Beth Brelje is a Senior Political Investigator for Restoration News, focusing on state and federal elections, laws, legislation and the effects policies have on us all. She has nearly 40 years of media experience. 

Email Beth here.

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