Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and chief House sponsor of the legislation, issued the following statement after President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law.

“I am proud that the first major piece of legislation signed by President Obama reaffirms the basic and fundamental American value of equal pay for equal work. Unfortunately, the outrageous employment practice of paying workers differently based on prejudice was sanctioned by a sorely misguided Supreme Court decision in May 2007 and demanded immediate attention.

“With President Obama’s signature today, we ensure that women and other workers who are discriminated against while on the job have the ability to receive a fair remedy. Ongoing pay discrimination is an attack on all working Americans and must be stamped out. The Congress and the President restored the law today and ensured that discriminatory paychecks are not immune from challenge.

“I also commend Lilly Ledbetter’s incredible courage and perseverance over the past couple of years in making her voice heard in this debate. Thanks to Lilly Ledbetter’s efforts, even though it is too late for her to receive justice, millions of Americans will be able to once again fight against the despicable practice of workplace discrimination.”

Ledbetter v. Goodyear Equal Pay Hearing: Lilly Ledbetter.

What happened to me is not only an insult to my dignity, but it had real consequences for my ability to care for my family. Every paycheck I received, I got less than what I was entitled to under the law.

“The Supreme Court said that this didn’t count as illegal discrimination, but it sure feels like discrimination when you are on the receiving end of that smaller paycheck and trying to support your family with less money than the men are getting for doing the same job.

“And according to the Court, if you don’t figure things out right away, the company can treat you like a second-class citizen for the rest of your career. That isn’t right.” -- Lilly Ledbetter.

You Tube

more here.

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Goes to Obama

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:
The new Congress has made a real difference in America’s working women and men’s lives today by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This critical law will help ensure fairness and equality at the workplace.

Democrats Overturn Barrier to Unequal-Pay Suits

By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 28, 2009; A04

President Obama plans to sign into law tomorrow the first legislation of his White House tenure, reversing a recent Supreme Court ruling that had restricted the ability of women and other workers to sue for pay discrimination.

Congress passed the measure yesterday with a lopsided House vote, handing a swift victory to women's and labor advocates on a civil rights expansion that Obama's predecessor had vowed to block.

Coming exactly a week after Obama took office, the quick work of the new Congress -- and the scheduling of the president's first East Room signing ceremony -- are early emblems of an intention to give the government a more liberal tilt. They also signify a rebalancing of power among the government's branches, with newly ascendant Democrats overruling a decision that the Supreme Court made two years ago by a slender majority that included two conservative justices appointed by President George W. Bush.

The legislation, named for a retired supervisor at a tire plant who belatedly discovered that she was paid less than her male counterparts, essentially rewrites the rules that specify the time within which workers may sue under a part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that outlaws discrimination based on gender, race, national origin or religion.

Under the bill, workers may bring a lawsuit for up to six months after they receive any paycheck that they allege is discriminatory. The high court had held that such cases could be brought only within six months of the discrimination's beginning, rejecting a long-held interpretation by lower courts and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that each paycheck represented a fresh act of discrimination.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday that the president "looks forward to signing the bill" and that the first lady and Lilly Ledbetter, the woman for whom the legislation and the court case are named, would attend.

ALA-APA Library Salary Database:2006, 2007 & 2008 data included,

ALA-APA Library Salary Database .
Welcome to the ALA-Allied Professional Association Library Salary Database, which includes data from both the Librarian and Non-MLS Salaries – Public and Academic. 2006, 2007 & 2008 data included.

The Salary Surveys are a project of the ALA-APA and the American Library Association Office for Research and Statistics.

The Non-MLS data is for more than 60 positions from more than 800 public and academic libraries. The Librarian data is for six positions from more than 1,000 public and academic libraries.
[subscription required].

2007 ALA-APA Salary Survey

2007 ALA-APA Salary Survey: Librarian – Public and Academic, a beginning librarian with an MLS can expect to earn anywhere from $22,053 to $88,156, with a mean starting salary of $41,334 for public libraries and $48,365 for academic libraries. The range is due to the variation of salaries in different parts of the country, as well as to library size and type.

"Sweatshop Labor" and "Living Wage" Resolutions- -American Library Association, 2008- Background by SRRT Councilor, Al Kagan

The January 2009 issue of the SRRT Newsletter includes a report on the 2008 ALA Annual Conference held in June in Anaheim. SRRT Councilor Al reports that there was support for the sweatshop provision of the SRRT "Resolution Concerning ALA Policy Opposing Sweatshop Labor and Support for Union Businesses," but vehement opposition to anything about unions. Kagan worked with Councilor Jonathan Betz-Zall to delete the union language before the resolution came up on the floor of Council.
I am unsure why ALA at large is so wary of supporting unions. The annual review of union activity in libraries--"There is Power in a Union,"-- that appears in Progressive Librarian and this blog continue to be the only ongoing source of union information (tho Library Worklife, produced by ALA-APA is far more union friendly than ALA at large).
Kagan also reports passage of the "Resolution Endorsing a Living Wage for All Library Workers and a Minimum Wage for Professional Librarians ."

Escondido: Salaries of Union Members will Regress to 2001 Levels

With the cuts, the salaries of union members will regress to 2001 levels, and their benefits will revert to what they had in 1994, union president Russ Lane said.“No one is happy about this,” he said. “We were backed into a corner.”

ESCONDIDO – A last-minute decision by Escondido's largest non-uniformed labor union to accept a pay cut helped avert 31 layoffs when the City Council approved wide-ranging budget cuts Wednesday.

But the council was unable to save much-needed services when it voted 3-2 to drastically shorten library hours, leave 12 police officers' position unfilled and not equip Fire Station 6 on Del Dios Road with a firetruck.

The council majority also voted to close City Hall every Friday, cut the salaries of 236 City Hall employees by 5 percent, and eliminate the city's contributions to employee 401(k)s and automatic pay increases.


The Escondido City Employees Association

Steeltown Digital Library & the Center for Working Class Studies

The Center for Working-Class Studies at Youngstown State University website site offers many resources for research, teaching, and understanding working-class culture, including sections on:

* Working-class literature
* The lives of workers in the Mahoning Valley
* Syllabi, course materials, and ideas for teaching about class
* Links to other sites, museums, and organizations involved in
working-class issues.

Steeltown Digital Library.

Solis: “An Obligation to Restore [Workers'] Trust and Hope”

At confirmation hearings on the nomination of Hilda Solis as secretary of labor Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) says she has “an obligation to restore [workers'] trust and hope” in the U.S. Department of Labor

As Obama said repeatedly throughout the campaign, the Bush administration and outgoing Labor Secretary Elaine Chao spent eight years attacking workers’ rights, strong workplace health and safety rules and unions while they carried the water for Big Business.

Paycheck Fairness Act : Ensuring Equal Pay for Women in the Workplace

he Institute of Women’s Policy Research found that this wage disparity will cost women anywhere from $400,000 to $2 million over a lifetime in lost wages.

Loopholes created by courts and weak sanctions in the law have allowed many employers to avoid liability for engaging in gender-based pay discrimination. The Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 12), introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro and passed by the House on January 9, 2009 by a vote of 256-163, will strengthen the Equal Pay Act and close the loopholes that have allowed employers to avoid responsibility for discriminatory pay.

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Passes House

The House of Representatives today approved legislation to rectify a Supreme Court ruling that made it harder for Americans to pursue discrimination claims. The bill is among the first considered by the 111th Congress and passed by a 247 to 171 vote.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 11) would clarify that every paycheck or other compensation resulting from an earlier discriminatory pay decision constitutes a violation of the Civil Rights Act. As long as workers file their charges within 180 days of a discriminatory paycheck, their charges would be considered timely. This was the law prior to the Supreme Court’s May 2007 decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear.