The Horror, The Horror!: GOP, Business Alarmed by Fair Pay Bills

Congress is expected to vote this week on critical legislation remedying pay inequity for women. But, as I point in a new In These Times column, what's especially striking is the horrified response of the GOP and business groups to these common-sense measures -- a forerunner of the upcoming fight over the Employee Free Choice Act to create a level playing field for organizing. Some excerpts:

Why have pro-business leaders, such as the National Association of Manufacturers, denounced these bills as "another open invitation to sue business owners and operators on thin grounds" One important bill, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act , would overturn a 2007 Supreme Court decision that barred workers from filing anti-discrimination lawsuits because they waited too long to sue. (You can hear Lilly Ledbetter tell her story here.) A second measure, the Paycheck Fairness Act, aims to strengthen labor laws and legal remedies to stop the discrepancy in womens' pay: they average only 78 cents for every dollar men make...

In fact, The Center for American Progress reports in a new study:

A full-time female worker loses a median of $434,000 in wages over a 40-year period as a direct result of the gender pay gap, also known as the "career wage gap." Making up that gap, or the 22 percent difference in annual pay, could certainly help with the economic recovery as well.

Republicans resent that they're being pressured to vote so quickly on these measure. The Hill reports:

"Business groups are not pleased with the early votes on labor bills, and complain they were not subject to hearings and markups in this Congress. They also say the two scheduled votes are an indication of the rough year they could have with the Democratic House.

"It was "ominous" how quickly the House leadership was moving on the legislation, said Randy Johnson, vice president for labor policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who also complained about the lack of debate."

Of course these same issues were fully aired in hearings in the last Congress, where Ledbetter testified, and the Paycheck Fairness Act was first introduced eleven years ago. But, hey, who's counting?

Yet while anti-labor groups and Republican leaders are sharpening their attack lines, or lies, about these measures and the upcoming Employee Free Choice Act, some businessmen are seeing the value to the broader economy of strengthening workers' rights to unionize.

The AFL-CIO NOW blog quotes an op-ed piece by Joe Diecedue, a state agent for American Income Life Insurance, who wrote a strong piece explaining why we need the Employee Free Choice Act:

"When a worker does well, business does well. Business can sell and retain customers who can afford to pay. No one wins when everyone struggles."

The union movement and progressives will be using such common-sense arguments to rally support for early passage of the majority sign-up legislation. The two pay equity bills being considered this week by the House of Representatives are a good sign that pro-worker legislation will get a fair hearing in this new Congress.

UPDATE: Check activist Page Gardner's HuffPost column on how and why to support passage of these bills.

Comments

[WestcoastSteve]

When I saw John McCain's response to this bill, the phrase 'bullet whistling past my head' came to mind. The world is better off without people like him and Palin weilding power. Thanks God he lost.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

How about we just pass just labor laws so we don't NEED unions? Fair treatment for union AND non union laborers.... equal pay and equal treatment.

[WestcoastSteve]

A well-run company that treats its workers with respect, pays them a fair wage and finds a way to listen to them, usually doesn't have to 'fear' a union coming in. Unions were a response to management exploitation and abuse, and still are today.

And on that note, I'd like to say "WAKE UP, Walmart workers!" If anyone needed a reason to organize, it's them (and I should know, my brother works for a Walmart).

[JohnBryansFontaine]

NON - UNIONIZED WORKERS:

YOU DON'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH MANAGEMENT OPPRESION AND LIES ANY MORE:

http://www.employeefreechoiceactnow.org

[realpolitic]

Why do conservatives think captialism is so fragile? They whine about minimum wage bills, fair trade bills, and any sort of regulation. Capitalism does not only exist for the capitalists. It must benefit the wide majority. Conservatives have a very narrow, predatory view of how capitalism should function.

[Catothemuchyounger]

When I read someone saying "women make "x" cents for every dollar that a man makes" but I don't read that the writer is comparing men and women who hold the same job, I get the feeling that what we have here is "Comparable Worth" rearing its ugly head again.

[jacqmac]

So-called 'secret ballots' are generally fixed, that's why. Wal-Mart is one of those organizations that continually tells its employees how BAD unions are, even though there are enough workers who WANT to unionize. Therefore, there is no 'secret ballot' when it comes to unionizing--or there shouldn't be. If enough people want a union, they should have one--without being singled out by their 'peers' in an alleged 'secret-ballot' move.

[research]

The "no secret ballot" thing is an anti union lie.

http://firedoglake.com/2008/12/17/journalists-be-careful-about-getting-your-information-from-rick-berman-about-employee-free-choice/

Workers can request a secret ballot.

[musselmanm]

Union guy here. Also a believer in equal pay for equal work. Lets break the glass ceiling that I began hearing about in the early sixties from my LIBERAL mother.
The fact that some business' are embracing the fact that when Americans can buy their products, they become very much more secure in their business model.
Union people, in spite of what many of our money changers would have us believe support business' and work hard to create a profit for their owners. The ones that obviously take the chance on going into business.
I we all look at business and commerce as a partnership between business and labor, our country will once again lead the world and return to prosperity.
God Bless America.

[LITNUP]

The Employee Free Choice Act is not ... This is as much an oxymoron and smoke and screen propaganda as saying yes to prop 8 or the fairness doctrine.

[research]

Did you get that lie from the "lies" link in the article?

It's there.

Based on your profile, it's laughable for you to pretend you care about workers anyway.

Very dishonest of you.

[LITNUP]

My father was a 40 year union plumber that helped put us through Catholic grade and highschool.... My son , is a very disgruntled "FORCED" member of SEIU working part time for no benefits at a grocery store where he is forced to pay dues and because of the SEIU after a 4 hour pay period brought home a $2.00 check....

[EssentialEmmes]

Once again Levine is covering issues the mainstream media ignores. How amazing is it that this gender discrepancy continues in these "enlightened" times? Good job, Art!

[SantaFeConservative]

Please explain to me how not allowing secret ballots for unionization voting is a good thing?

[billw8017]

Secret ballots have failed as an organizing tactic. Companies spy on their employees (harsh word but simple fact) and fire those are willing to work to unionize. An election can take a year or more to set up, giving the company all sorts of time to undermine union interest. When elections are held, a small corporation (say a nursing home) can disband, close up and reopen as a different corporation where the employees must apply as for a different job. The card check overwhelms these tricks by allowing the 60% of workers who tell pollsters they would like to be in a union to be in a union and protected by labor law before the company can find out who they are and fire them.

As they impower the workers and enhance their capability to consume, unions may be absolutely essential for the American economy to weather the impending storm. Higher wages are the answer to inflation since they accomodate the inflation as the tax it is in fact. The inflation lowers the value of the dollar internationally which favors domestic production.