Equal Pay For Equal Work Is The Rallying Cry From An Alabama Grandmother

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/9308

Although the major news networks may not be shining a spotlight on them, many workers have been offered opportunities to speak in front of the throngs of Democrats in Denver this week.

A great deal of the media coverage at the Democratic National Convention has been focused on speeches by the leaders in the party such as Hillary Clinton, Edward Kennedy, and Joe Biden. However, throughout the week there have been a number of speeches by everyday Democrats and many workers. One such speaker was Lily Ledbetter, a former supervisor at a Goodyear Tire plant in Alabama. Ledbetter received an anonymous note in her mailbox at work one day telling her that she wasn’t being paid the same rate as male co-workers doing the same job. She took her case to court and went all the way up to the Supreme Court which found that because Ledbetter had not filed her complaint within six months of Goodyear first paying her less, she didn’t have a case. The House of Representatives passed a bill to ensure fair pay, but Senate Republicans blocked it. She called on the thousands in attendance to elect leaders who will fight for gender equality in pay. She cited Senator Barack Obama as one of those champions and said:

: "Equal pay for equal work is a fundamental American principle. We need leaders in this country who will fight for it. With all of us working together, we can have the change we need and the opportunity we all deserve."

[LiberalEsto]

1. That happened to me once

Back in 1976 I was one of two female reporters at a weekly newspaper. The other 3 reporters were guys. I became friendly with someone in payroll and learned that all the guys earned $175 compared to our $150. That extra $25 would have gone a long way 32 years ago.

I already had another job lined up and planned to quit anyway. Otherwise I might have been fired for raising hell.

At that week's editorial board meeting, I stood up angrily and demanded, "Do I have to get a sex change operation to get a raise around here?" The publisher nearly fainted as I stormed on about inequality and unfairness. I said they were lucky I didn't file a lawsuit, since I was handing in my two weeks' notice anyway.

After I had moved on to a bigger paper at a significantly larger salary, my former female co-worker thanked me and told me the paper had immediately instituted a salary guide and raised her pay.


The good old days sometimes really sucked.

I've been told I couldn't work for the U.S. Post Office because "women can't do heavy lifting" (1970)

I've been told I couldn't drive a school bus because I was female (1970)

I've been told I couldn't be hired as a pharmacy delivery clerk because "women can't do heavy lifting." When I asked how carrying a bottle of pills constituted heavy lifting, I was told that I'd sometimes have to move containers of pool chemicals. (1970).

I was the first woman in Central NJ to work as an ice cream truck driver.