U.S. HOUSE Proposal raises pay for women

The plan would strengthen the Equal Pay Act, enacted 39 years ago today.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- To Virginia Bullard of Salem, the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act would go a long way toward eliminating the disparity in pay between men and women.
"This act would benefit everybody," said Bullard, a former factory worker who is now employed as the organizing director of the Service Employees International Union Local 627 in Youngstown.
"Discriminating laws haven't changed in years. All our labor laws are so far outdated. This bill will help."
Bullard, a single mother, said that before she got the SEIU post, she struggled for years to get fair wages comparable to those of male co-workers.
Bullard attended a press conference today outside Mahoning County Common Pleas Court called by U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, a Lucasville Democrat and an original co-sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act.
The get-together was held on the 39th anniversary of the enactment of the Equal Pay Act, which prohibits discrimination on account of gender in the payment of wages by employers.
The act requires that male and female workers receive equal pay for work requiring equal skill, effort and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions.
But that act does not go far enough, Strickland said.
The median annual income for full-time male workers in this country is $37,338, compared with $27,355 for women, Strickland said.
What law would do
The Paycheck Fairness Act toughens penalties for businesses that violate the Equal Pay Act, provides training to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about wage discrimination, and protects employees who discuss wages with co-workers from employer retaliation.
"It will help close the gap that exists between men and women," Strickland said. "This is not just a women's issue. It's a family issue. The wage disparity affects families. Families suffer because of this disparity."
Even though the bill has about 200 co-sponsors in the U.S. House, it has a long way to go before it is enacted into law.
The proposal has not had a hearing and Strickland acknowledges that the House leadership is not interested in seeing it enacted into law.
"It will take pressure from the public to get this proposal a fair hearing," he said.
skolnick@vindy.com