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For IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, April 03, 2001 Statement by AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee on Equal Pay Day
We are all familiar with the old adage "a day late and a dollar short." Unfortunately for working women and people of color, this is an old saying that has taken on a lot of truth. On Tuesday, April 3, Equal Pay Day will be observed. Tuesday symbolizes the day when women's wages catch up to men's wages from the previous week. And because the average woman earns less, she works longer for the same amount — it takes her almost 7 working days to earn what her male counterpart will earn in five days of work. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, has always done whatever it takes to win pay equity. We have taken our fight to the bargaining table, state legislatures and the courts and will not stop until we have won the wage battle. In this 38th anniversary year of the Equal Pay Act, our efforts are focused on solutions to ending unfair pay practices and producing real results for working women and people of color. While the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act are important laws, they simply lack the ability to completely rid America of discriminatory pay practices. What we need now is legislation to strengthen existing laws. The Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 74) and the Fair Pay Act (S. 702) are effective tools for doing just that. The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen current equal pay law. The Fair Pay Act amends the Fair Labor Standards Act by prohibiting discrimination in wages paid to employees in comparable jobs within a workplace, based on a worker's sex, race or national origin. We call on the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Fair Pay Act (S. 702) and the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 74) and make equal pay a reality for all Americans. ### American Federation of State, County |
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