Metro

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to oppose sick leave bill

In a stunning defeat for the Working Families Party, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn will oppose the proposal for mandated paid sick days for all city businesses, the Post has learned.

Quinn – who is trying to appease small businesses as she eyes a run for mayor in 2013 – will announce she is dropping support for the bill this afternoon near City Hall.

Quinn’s opposition could doom the bill, which is also strongly opposed by Mayor Bloomberg.

The labor-backed WFP and a veto-proof majority of the Council support the bill, which would require small companies offer five paid sick days annually and large firms provide nine days.

The Five Borough Chamber of Commerce and the Partnership for New York City – which represents big business – have adamantly opposed the proposal, saying it would kill jobs in a fragile economy.

Bill sponsor Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) vowed not to abandon the legislation, saying Quinn promised her the two would meet to discuss it every two months.

“I have been around since John Lindsay and I don’t give up,” she said.

The NYS Paid Leave Coaltion, which favors the bill said in a statement, “The first possible woman mayor has just turned her back on a critical but modest lifeline that families around the city need – a stunning abandonment of working mothers and parents and the progressive women who have supported her from day one.”

Dan Morris, a spokesman for the liberal think-tank Drum Major Institute, added, “It”s unfortunate and sad that the Speaker of the City Council, a longtime progressive on so many issues, has decided to cave in to pressure from business lobbyists and corporate leaders and ignore all the evidence and data showing that paid sick leave is a cost-effective policy that helps working people, businesses, the economy and public health.”

“This fight is far from over.”