For the ladies: Time to Get Even – for Real

[Omaha Steve]

I remember Marta and I taking our kids to see Jesse Jackson when he was running for President. I still remember him saying "A woman makes about 25% less than a man for the same job. But she doesn't get a discount when she buys a loaf of bread"


http://www.afscmeblog.org/2007/04/25/time-to-get-even-%e2%80%93-for-real/


Time to Get Even – for Real

How would you like to be paid less than 80 cents for every dollar your co-workers get? Wouldn’t you say that’s a pretty unfair deal? Well, that’s exactly what many women across this country experience every day, even though equal pay has been the law since 1963.

In 2006, women earned 77 cents for every dollar a man was paid, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This is why April 24, 2007 marks “Equal Pay Day,” the annual symbolic day on which women’s average wages catch up to men’s from the previous year. This sure is one holiday where there’s nothing to celebrate.

And yet, equal pay is not just a women’s issue. As a matter of fact, the wage gap costs working families $200 billion in lost income a year.

And because pay equity is a problem that affects working families, a big part of the solution lies precisely in unions. Did you know that union women earn 31 percent more in their median weekly earnings than those without a union?

Among unions, AFSCME has been one of the strongest advocates for closing the wage gap. Since the 1970s, its members have been the recipients of more than $1 billion in pay equity adjustments won at the bargaining table, state and local legislatures and through political action.

At 57 percent of AFSCME’s membership, women are critical for our union to continue leading the charge for pay equity. Let’s make sure their hard work is valued accordingly.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Kick. Women unite to maintain equal rights, or we will be consigned back to the level

of being the property of our fathers, and then of our husbands after the wedding.

[knitter4democracy]

2. Don't forget all of the unpaid labor.

All of the childcare, all of the eldercare, all of the driving family and friends around, all of the unpaid hours that keep everyone going. When we all collapse under the workload, then our country will really be in deep sh*&.

[Morgana LaFey]

3. Thanks, Steve

:hi: