Wear Red on Equal Pay Day to Show Your Support for Pay Equity
Equal Pay Day will be observed nationwide on Tuesday, April 10th. This April date is symbolic for how many days into the new year an average American woman has to work to earn the same amount of pay an average man earned the previous year. Put another way, in the United States, women earn 80 cents for every dollar a man earns. The wage gap is even greater for women of color.
Though women of all backgrounds, across all industries, are affected by wage inequality, women who belong to unions have long fared better than their non-union counterparts. According to the National Women’s Law Center, “the gender wage gap among union women and men is about half the size of the wage gap among non-union workers, and female union members typically earn $224 more per week than women who are not represented by unions.”
By belonging to a union, workers receive access to fair, standardized wages, strong benefits, and extensive protections through a legally binding collective bargaining agreement. Teamsters Local 727 contracts, for example, set pay rates and minimums based on classification of work or job, not gender, providing a way to close the gender pay gap. Greater wage transparency and formal grievance procedures also help reduce the gender wage gap by ensuring anti-discriminatory provisions are enforced.
“A strong union contract is one of the keys to pay equality,” said John Coli Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of Local 727. “We’re proud to represent thousands of hardworking people, who know that the Teamsters will stand behind them every step of the way regardless of their gender, race, or ethnicity.”
In Chicago, a rally will be held in Daley Plaza (Clark and Washington) from noon to 1:00 p.m. on April 10th to bring greater attention to the issue of gender-based pay inequality. The keynote speaker is Alpana Singh, former host of the television show, “Check, Please!” Information on the event, including additional speakers and ways you can be more involved, can be found by visiting: equalpaydaychi.xyz.
Unable to attend the rally? By wearing red on April 10th, you can show your solidarity with the millions of women across the country fighting for equal pay.
Category: Politics, Union News
