Senate Voting on Ledbetter Fair Pay Tomorrow!

I've been relatively active in trying to convince my Senate representatives (Feinstein and Boxer) to take up the cause of passing the the Fair Pay Restoration Act in the Senate... and happily the Senate is scheduled to vote on the Fair Pay Restoration Act  tomorrow!

As a quick refresher, this is the legislation resulting from the Supreme Court's decision last year in Ledbetter v. Goodyear. My commentary on that unfortunate decision here.

MomsRising.org (of which I'm a part) coordinated a nationwide effort to help overturn Ledbetter via legislation, an it seems to have worked (we'll see tomorrow)!

I've spoken with both Feinstein's and Boxer's offices, and according to their respective office staffs, both of my Senators plan to vote for the  Fair Pay Restoration Act.

Below is some info. from MomRising in case you want to participate:

Tell your Senator to vote YES (again!) now: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24276

THE LOWDOWN: The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2831) is an important legislative "fix" to a May 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.), which severely limited the ability of victims of pay discrimination to sue and recover damages under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Without this "fix," the impact of the Court's decision will likely be widespread, affecting pay discrimination cases under Title VII involving women and racial and ethnic minorities, as well as cases under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Basically, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is a narrow "fix" to reestablish law that was in place until the U.S. Supreme Court Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. decision of last year.  This Act stops us from losing ground on civil rights and fixes a fundamental unfairness in the workplace which many women face.

MAKE A QUICK PHONE CALL TOO!  Thanks to our policy partners working on this issue with us, we have an additional way for you to contact your Senators.  The AFL-CIO set up a toll-free phone number just for people to call in support of the Fair Pay Act:

(866) 338-1015*

* note that I just tried to call Boxer's office and her voice mailbox in D.C. is full.  Call her representative Jennifer Tang in the San Francisco office instead: 415-403-0129 to make your voice heard.  I talked with Jennifer about the voicemail problem in D.C. and she also assured me that Ledbetter Fair Pay is "huge" on Boxer's radar.

You can use this number through Wednesday.  When you call, you will reach the Capitol switchboard.  Ask the operator to connect you with your Senator's office.  Then you can just say, "Please pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2831). We need this protection back now so none of us faces wage discrimination without tools to challenge it."

And don't forget to call back to reach your other Senator's office! Now is the time for us to use those outside voices and let the Senate know-- we need fair pay now!

*Don't forget to email your Senator to vote YES now! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24276


P.S. Some press links about the Ledbetter decision:

New York Times Ledbetter Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/us/30pay.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Washington Post Ledbetter Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/29/AR2007052900740.html
New York Times Ledbetter Editorial: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/opinion/31thu1.html
LA Times Ledbetter Editorial: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-court31may31,0,6046584.story?coll=la-opinion-leftrail

And, here's what some of MomsRising's aligned organizations have to say about this issue:

Alliance for Justice, http://www.afj.org/assets/resources/take-action/ledbetter-background-final.pdf
Alliance for Justice's 5 minute documentary short on Lilly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w1eSymFBOg
National Women's Law Center, http://www.nwlc.org/display.cfm?section=employment
National Organization for Women, http://www.now.org/issues/economic/070530equalpay.html