In the summer of 2015, Netflix became the darling of Silicon Valley by announcing it would give its employees “unlimited” paid parental leave—while quietly leaving out its lower-paid, hourly workers.
We delivered the signatures of more than 100,000 NARAL members and activists from groups like Coworker.org, Working Families Party and UltraViolet straight to Netflix’s front door at their corporate headquarters in Los Gatos, California. The message was loud and clear: If Netflix is going to claim to care about its employees having the flexibility to balance the needs of their growing families without worrying about work or finances, then they must expand their generous paid family leave to ALL their employees.
We delivered more than 100,000 petitions to Netflix.
Our action was written up in great local papers like the San Francisco Chronicle and Silicon Valley Business Journal, as well as by national news organizations like the Washington Post, Huffington Post and the Associated Press!
After we called them out, Netflix reversed its decision and announced it would expand paid family leave for all its hourly and part-time employees.
In extending their parental leave policy to employees in the streaming (16 weeks), DVD (12 weeks), and customer service (14 weeks) divisions at 100 percent pay, Netflix responded to an urgent call to recognize the importance of all parents to spend time with their children, and grant what every parent deserves: the dignity and financial stability of paid time off to care for new babies.
This was an important change that will make a tangible difference in the lives of hundreds of Netflix workers and their families. And it all happened thanks to the activism of our members.