I can't believe it. The Senate just voted down the Paycheck Fairness Act which would have made it easier for workers to sue their employers for pay discrimination. Democrats supported it yet they lost by two votes. Republicans nixed it because they called it a "jobs killer."
Here's what Bloomberg says the Paycheck Fairness Act would have done:
[It] would have lifted the cap on damages in pay- discrimination lawsuits and restricted how employers can fight such complaints. The legislation would also have banned employers from penalizing workers who share salary information to find pay discrepancies....[It] would have strengthened remedies under the Equal Pay Act of 1963 for women....
It passed the House of Representatives in January 2009, along with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act...[a] measure, primarily intended to benefit women, [which] lets workers pursue claims of being underpaid because of discrimination that occurred years earlier. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2007 had disallowed such lawsuits.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and other business groups lobbied Republican senators to block the companion piece of legislation.
Guess they didn't see this argument for it in Newsweek. Or this piece at Slate. Or the AAUW's take on why it's needed.
As always, this sort of legislation is shouted down by big business which claims that it'll lead to "lower wages and fewer jobs." (And what are we facing right now?) Senators who might have voted for it were hobbled by threats from those who give out fat donations for re-election campaigns. As Bloomberg notes, "The Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers this week sent letters to senators notifying them that the business groups would monitor their votes on the measure." If that isn't a threat, then what is?
And it was effective. Senator Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) deserted his party and voted with Republicans. Three women senators who'd supported the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas --refused to support the Paycheck Fairness Act. As a manufacturers' association staffer said, "[T]hey did the right thing and voted for jobs." (Loud cough of disbelief.)
Jobs that pay men more and women less.
Now that women make up half the workforce, that means half of this nation's earners are not getting what they deserve. And there will be no assistance from the government should they pursue equal compensation from their employers. This from a lame duck Senate. Think of what lies ahead when a new Congress convenes in 2011.
The reaction from the other side of the aisle via Bloomberg:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Republicans who blocked the bill would rather "give tax breaks to CEOs who ship jobs overseas" than ensure that women are paid the same as men for doing equal work. Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, said the bill was "critical to our economic recovery."
"We need to make sure the family budget is based on people getting paid for the work they do," she said.
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