Monday, April 21, 2008

Pass the Fair Pay Restoration Act!

This is important:
Tomorrow marks the very important PA primary, but it's notable for another reason ... Equal Pay Day. And the cause is uniting some of the Senate's female Dems who have been on opposing sides during the contentious presidential primary contest.

Led by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, these senators will renew their call for passage of the Fair Pay Restoration Act (S. 1843), which ensures equal pay for women and minorities in the workforce. Mikulski will speak at 10 a.m. Scheduled to follow are: Sens. Patty Murray, Claire McCaskill and Amy Klobuchar.

It's particularly important to pass this since last May's outrageous, 5-4 Supreme Court decision, "Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co," which absurdly held that "that workers must sue for pay discrimination within 180 days after the original pay-setting decision, no matter how long the unfair pay continues."

P.S. Guess who is NOT a co-sponsor of this important legislation in the House? Gee, I wonder who...could it be...yes it is, Frank Wolf's name isn't on there. Ha, big surprise! :)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The problem is that the premise is based on a lie. The proponents of this type of legislation always point to "average" pay figures when they bray on and on about glass ceilings and unequal pay.

The TRUTH (you remember the truth don't you, that's what you never hear on the mass media "news") is that federal government figures that compare same job categories along with same seniority, reveal that women in America are paid more than men in those same job/seniority categories. Go to the U.S. Department of Labor website and look for yourselves.

Oh, and guess who approved the U.S. Labor statistics? A bunch of SES level women who all earn in excess of $120,000 per year.

When you see disparities based on "average" pay figures, those averages did not take into account lack of seniority and the preponderance of women who slip in and out of the job force, some due to family, while others just do not prefer to stay with the same company for full careers.

Mikulski has been beating this dead horse long enough. It is time that someone made her tell the truth. Insist that any figures used claiming pay disparity show job for job and with equal seniority. There is no gender disparity, unless you want to count the slightly higher pay that women are now getting in the same job at the same seniority, that men get.

Anonymous said...

Another sign this is all a lie.

If the same companies that send jobs overseas for cheap labor REALLY were paying women less than men for the same work -- then wouldn't they be giving most of their jobs to women? Why even consider hiring men if women REALLY were being paid less for the same work?