From the Washington Post:

The bill, dubbed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, was introduced after a Supreme Court ruling in 2007 rejected a $360,000 award in back pay to Lilly Ledbetter, an Alabama woman who worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber. Ledbetter had discovered a large gap between her salary and that of her male colleagues, stretching back years.

The discrepancy cost her lost wages and also lowered her retirement earnings because her Social Security and 401(k) contributions were based on her salary. But the court ruled that Ledbetter's case was not allowed under the 1964 Civil Rights Act because the statute of limitations on claims was 180 days after the alleged discrimination took place.

Now for the "Frivolous" piece to this legislation, from the opposition (also in the Post piece), you know those 36 votes against fair and equal pay:

The bill would greatly ease the statute-of-limitations requirements -- too much so, said Republican opponents, who warned that civil courts would be clogged with frivolous lawsuits.

The funny thing about their opposition is that I don't think they realize that they have just told all women who have suffered with lower pay that suing over the issue is frivolous.

FRIVOLOUS?!

I don't think I need Republicans or any men telling me what is or isn't FRIVOLOUS. I'm not a child. I'm not a little girl who can't tell the difference between wanting and needing and what is fair or what is just.

So, to the opposition party, Please, Take YOUR FRIVOLOUS Attitude and Shove it up...wait, no, wait, I'm not one of those people who swear and curse and slam their idiotic opponents up against walls for their stupidity, instead, let me just say, WHATEVER, let's celebrate what has just happened. Let's get back to the positive.

From a statement form Debra Ness and the National Partnership for Women and Families:

The Senate took an enormous step forward to restore fair pay protections by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act this evening.

...

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is a modest and targeted response to a harmful and unjust U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made it just about impossible for victims of pay discrimination to seek justice in the courts, no matter how severe the discrimination they face. Today, the Senate stood with the American people and committed to ending workplace discrimination.

Well said. It could have gone further, but this is a good first step to turning back 8 years of hell and degradation. It's measured and opens just enough of the statute to ensure that women who find out that they have been wronged get justice. Something that is anything but frivolous.

Way to go Senate. Can't wait to see the picture of Lilly and President Obama together as he signs that act into LAW!

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I got this from Hard Hatted Women today and I wanted to share it.

Much ado about the oft mentioned Joe the Plumber adorned the last presidential debate and subsequent news media. Blatantly absent from the conversion is the mention of Betty the Bricklayer and the women she might represent. Unfortunately, there just aren’t that many women working in the skilled trades, such Joe, as a plumber, pipefitter or heavy equipment operator. In fact, nationally, women represent only 4% of the skilled trades, which provide family-sustaining wages, healthcare and pensions, especially when they are union jobs. Instead, women continue to work predominately in sectors still considered traditional “women’s work” – such as those in the service sector and childcare, making just minimum wage and often without benefits. In an average work lifetime a woman working in a career considered “nontraditional” such as that of a plumber will earn $1 million dollars more than a woman working as a childcare worker.

This is important to understand because women continue to be disproportionately impacted by poverty. According to the most recent U.S. Census, in Cleveland 53 % of households headed by women live in poverty and for women of color that number rises to 68%. Additionally, women are often excluded from these jobs opportunities because of discrimination and lack of access to training. While not every woman wants to be a bricklayer or a plumber, she should be provided the choice. And when she does not opt for those careers, she should not be expected to work for less than her male counterparts. Despite years of outcry and activism, women still continue to earn less than their male counterparts for the same work. Studies show that women, on average, earn 77 cents for each dollar earned by a man.

Recently, a woman named Lilly Ledbetter has been criss-crossing the nation to raise awareness about pay equity. Lilly is now retired but has said how important it is to remedy this for our daughters and granddaughters. Lilly sued Good Year Tire and Rubber when she discovered the company had discriminated against her for decades by paying her male counterparts, even those less qualified and less senior higher wages. Lilly was awarded $3.8 million dollars by a jury of her peers for this violation of her civil rights under Title VII. Yet somehow the Supreme Court overturned the ruling stating Ledbetter did not act in a timely fashion. Lilly sued upon the discovery yet somehow the Supreme Court determined she was negligent in not knowing about the discrimination from her first paycheck.

In the spring, legislation bearing this courageous woman’s name will go once again before the United States Senate for a vote. Lilly was mentioned by name only once during the last presidential debate and there was no follow-up discussion on how that legislation or the continued disparity between women’s wages and men’s impacts our families, our communities and our nation again. Putting choices in the hands of women and girls provides equality. Ensuring equal pay for equal work can mean the difference between remaining in poverty or being lifted out of it.


Kelly M. Kupcak
Director of Policy
Hard Hatted Women
216-861-6500, ext. 203
kkupcak@hardhattedwomen.org

Thanks Kelly and Hard Hatted Women. I wish there was a similar organization in every state and territory. It's time women were better represented in the TRADES.

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Lilly Ledbetter will be speaking tonight in Cleveland for Hard Hatted Women. I highly recommend sending a little green their way for all the amazing work they do with pre-apprenticeship programs for women in Cleveland. And to tell you the kinds of stuff women in the workplace face, perhaps we can shine a light on the choices we have to make when planning for kids or even thinking about adopting. It's kind of a reality check:

of half a million impoverished children in one year's time.

Nikki Maxwell is a 39-year-old mother of three living in North Hills, California. As an employee of California State University, she was well-supported when she chose to have children. A human resources staff member took the time to explain the family and health policies. As a union member, she received six weeks paid leave. Her co-workers were responsive to the flexible hours she needed at the office.

By the time her third child was born, though, Maxwell worked in a new department.

"[In the new department], nobody had children and you were expected to work weekends and evenings," Maxwell said. "I just couldn't do that anymore. It was time to leave."

She left CSU to work as a consultant from home. But her timing, she said, couldn't have been worse.

"The economy has tanked and we've gone from being fairly stable and secure as parents to feeling stressed and unsure," she said. "I like my flexible lifestyle, but I don't like not have health insurance for my kids."

She added that while she and her husband planned their first child, the other two were unexpected. "I'm not sure I ever would have had more children on purpose," Maxwell said. "It's a big, responsible and scary job to be a parent these days.

"I would adopt (another child) if I felt I could afford it. I can't afford more children at this point."

Amy Minton, a writer in San Antonio, shares this frustration.

"Frankly, I'd love to adopt, but the financial and medical bills for that are way out of our league. Why isn't it more affordable to adopt so that middle-class people can do it? That frustrates me," she said.

Becoming a parent in and of itself wasn't without economic strain for Minton.

"When I had my baby in 2000, I worked for myself and had a crappy individual policy. I paid cash to midwives for the birth, and we negotiated with the hospital on a payment plan. I went back to work the day after I gave birth," she said.

"Now, in 2008, with an employer that offers family leave and a crappy health care plan I can't afford--so I still have the same individual insurance plan--I wouldn't think of having a baby," Minton said. "I've seen too many new moms here at work get caught in the system they thought would take care of them. Then they get passed over for promotions because their focus is on family."

My daughter is now 15. In 1993, SChip (Ohio's Healthy Babies) made it possible for me to have her. Both my husband and I were working and I had health insurance, but it wasn't enough to cover the medical bills. I went back to work as a waitress 10 weeks after she was born and had to deal with babysitters from hell until I could afford day care. There were times when I pulled the cushions to search for pennies so I could put something, anything in the gas tank.

Women deserve equal pay. We deserve to be able to feed our families and where possible, adopt kids whose parents aren't able to care for them. No one should have to make a choice between family and career and NO EMPLOYER should be able to pass a woman with a family over for a promotion just because she has a family. On that last one, I should know. As a single mom, it happened to me and there wasn't a damn thing to do about it. They didn't select me because I was a single mother and the job required travel. They hired another woman instead of me. Single moms are not a protected class. Mom's in general aren't, either. It's as if they're still telling women that we need to learn to sit down and shut up, you know, learn to take it like a man. Only thing is, men still get all the breaks and having to even consider a Lilly Ledbetter keeps proving that point.

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Do you live in New York City? If so, don’t miss this event:

Gala Book Party

SISTERS IN THE BROTHERHOODS
(Palgrave/Macmillan 2008).

WHEN: September 16th, 2008 — 6 p.m.
WHERE: Tamiment Library
70 Washington Square South, 10th Flr, NYC

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FOR INFORMATION: 212-998-2636

Organized by the New York Labor History Association
Co-sponsor: Tamiment Library / Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, NYU

But what exactly is this book about? I was curious, so I looked it up and found this:

Description

Sisters in the Brotherhoods is an oral-history-based study of women who have, against considerable odds, broken the gender barrier to blue-collar employment in various trades in New York City beginning in the 1970s. It is a story of the fight against deeply ingrained cultural assumptions about what constitutes women's work, the middle-class bias of feminism, the daily grinding sexism of male coworkers, and the institutionalized discrimination of employers and unions. It is also the story of some gutsy women who, seeking the material rewards and personal satisfactions of skilled manual labor, have struggled to make a place for themselves among New York City's construction workers, stationary engineers, firefighters, electronic technicians, plumbers, and transit workers. Each story contributes to an important unifying theme: the way women confronted the enormous sexism embedded in union culture and developed new organizational forms to support their struggles, including and especially the United Tradeswomen.

You know with all the swirl of stuff going on about Palin, it’s nice to see that there’s a book out there that takes a look at REAL Women who have done REAL jobs that had been reserved for men. Jobs like Firefighting, police, carpentry, oh hell, the jobs very much like what women in Cleveland can train for through the pre-apprenticeship programs through Hard Hatted Women.

Hard Hatted Women. needs you help to continue their work and you can help, you can go to their website and make a donation or you can also go to their upcoming fundraiser where Lilly Ledbetter will speak. I’d love to hear what Lilly has to say about the current race and not only about pay equity, but I’m also hoping, she’ll touch on the importance of the Employee Free Choice Act.

This year’s election is just too important, there’s just too much at stake. Register and vote. It’s really that important.

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