Denver Post: Stand up for working women: Pass EFCA

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.denverpost.com/guestcommentary/ci_12951519

By Linda Meric
Posted: 08/02/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT

When President Barack Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act in January, the nation's attention refocused for a short time on the pay inequity and gender bias that still plague the American workplace. That moment passed, and women are still paid less than men, earning only about 78 cents for every dollar, with women of color earning even less.

The Employee Free Choice Act is one sure way to address this gender-based pay gap. Unionization can provide important economic security for low-wage Colorado women and their families.

In Colorado, women who are in unions earn nearly 6 percent more than women who aren't union members. Nationwide, that difference is about 35 percent.

The benefits of union membership for women in low-wage occupations are even greater. Among those working in the 15 lowest-paying occupations, union members not only earned more than their non-union counterparts, they were also 26 percentage points more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 23 percentage points more likely to have a pension plan than those who were not members of a union.

"For women, joining a union makes as much sense as going to college," said John Schmitt, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and author of the CEPR study "Unions and Upward Mobility for Women Workers."

"All else equal," said Schmitt, "joining a union raises a woman's wage as much as a full year of college, and a union raises the chances a woman has health insurance by more than earning a four-year college degree."

FULL story at link.

[Bozita]

1. Just cancelled out someone's "unrecommend"