Sound like a headline from The Onion? It's not. It's true.
Today the Lilly Ledbetter Pay Equity Act failed to get the 60 votes needed in the Senate to proceed to a debate and vote.
Check here to see how your senators voted. If they voted yes, tell them thank you. If they voted no, tell them they suck, or some more eloquent version of that, and ask them to reconsider their vote.
Call your senators immediately to urge them to vote "yes" on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act! The Senate is expected to vote on this critical bill for women's equality this Wednesday. You can use this number 866-338-1015, available Monday through Wednesday.
The House has already passed it to correct the recent Supreme Court decision that makes a woman's ability to sue for wage discrimination extremely limited, if not impossible.
This is no brainer stuff. Women should get equal pay for equal work. This fight has gone on too long; we need a victory.
Urge your Senators to Support the Fair Pay Restoration Act of 2007 (S.1843) to correct the recent Supreme Court decision that guts the ability of workers to sue for wage discrimination.
In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., the Bush Supreme Court ruled against a woman who worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for 19 years before realizing that she was paid significantly less than her male counterparts with the same or less experience. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that wage discrimination complaints could only be filed within 180 days of the initial discriminatory salary decision, even if the victim is unaware of the discrimination until much later.
The Ledbetter decision reversed decades of precedent in wage discrimination cases decided under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Just before the August recess, the House passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007 to reinstate prior law. The Senate must move immediately to pass the companion bill, the Fair Pay Restoration Act, introduced by Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), with Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Olympia Snowe, (R-ME) and Arlen Spector (R-PA).
Tell your Senators to reverse the Supreme Court's assault on wage discrimination law by supporting the Fair Pay Restoration Act of 2007.
For Women's Lives,
Eleanor Smeal
President, Feminist Majority
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