[NOW Actions] NO EXCUSES - Women Deserve Fair Pay

Support NOW's Work |	July 23, 2008	| Tell a Friend

Action Needed Background All NOW Actions Support our work on Fair Pay		NO EXCUSES - Women Deserve Fair Pay Senators Must Hear from Us NOW! It has been a year since the House passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act and we must demand that the Senate quit stalling and support a bill to restore our rights. Although opponents of women's fair pay have implied that the House-passed bill has "gone too far," they couldn't be more wrong. As we promote the Senate version of the bill, the Fair Pay Restoration Act (S.1843), we must remind our Senators that the proposed Act is really quite simple - it does nothing new and simply gives women back the decades-old enforcement rights that the Supreme Court took away from them last year! Take Action NOW Action Needed: In the Senate, the fair pay bill has had a tumultuous year. After a Senate committee hearing on S. 1843 in January, the Senate leadership hoped to expedite fair pay restoration by bringing the House-passed version of the bill directly to the Senate floor in April. But Senate conservatives campaigned against the bill, demanding that the Senate consider another version that had been introduced directly into the Senate, and that they have hearings with an opportunity for discussion and amendments. The 57 yes votes for the Senate version of the bill weren't enough to stop the Republican filibuster and close debate, so now we must get more sponsors and supporters for the Senate bill before any further Senate action can be taken this fall. ACT NOW to get more Senate sponsors On Thursday, July 17th, supporters of fair pay for women gathered for a rally and press event on the Senate side of the Capitol in the "Senate Swamp" along with Lily Ledbetter herself, Kim Gandy, President of NOW, and dozens of supportive senators and Congresswomen, including Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi. These leaders stood together to demand fair pay, and now we must join them to build support for the Senate bill -- send a message now, and also plan to contact your senators when they come back to your state for their August recess. Call and email your Senators now and demand fair pay for women! Call now - (202) 224-3121 - and ask for each of your senators' offices in turn, and tell them you want the senator to suppoer the Lilly Ledbetter fair Pay Act in the Senate. Or use our alert system to take action. Background: Last year the Supreme Court sharply limited the ability of women who have suffered pay discrimination to seek back pay and other compensation. A month after the Court denied Lilly Ledbetter's claim for pay discrimination in May 2007, the House of Representatives passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The Senate version (S.1843), the Fair Pay Restoration Act, will fix the Court's misinterpretation of Title VII and ensure that pay discrimination victims get their fair day in court. This Act will simply return us to the longstanding rule that treated each and every discriminatory paycheck as a new act of discrimination. It's sad enough that women are still paid only 77 cents or less to men's dollar, even though civil rights laws banned wage discrimination more than four decades ago. The Supreme Court's decision could push back much of the progress that women have been making in closing the wage gap. That's why the Republican obstructionism and mis-characterizations must end! The House passed the Fair Pay Act over a year ago and it's time for the Senate to act. Write or call your Senators now to encourage them to sponsor and support this bill. Let them know that you oppose any attempts to water down the anti-discrimination measure or undermine the rights of those covered by the 1964 civil rights law. If your senator is already a cosponsor, ask him or her to use show leadership and gather more sponsors and supporters and help get this bill passed! You can use our email system to write to your senator, and the system will tell you whether each of your senators is a co-sponsor or not. Take Action NOW Resources: NOW President Kim Gandy's statement on Ledbetter Case Gandy statement on Fair Pay Act More info on Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act More info on Fair Pay Restoration Act Previous alert from NOW
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