Tuesday, April 20, is Equal Pay Day
Monday, April 19, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 is the national observance of Equal Pay Day, the day when people around the country recognize the wage gap between working women and men. This date symbolizes how far into 2010 women must work to earn what men earned in 2009. Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages.
Latest Census statistics show that the gap between men's and women's earnings widened slightly between 2007 and 2008. Based on the median earnings of full-time, year-round workers, women's earnings were $35,745 and men's earnings were $46,367. Median earnings for most women of color are even lower. In 2008, the earnings for African American women were $31,489, 67.9 percent of men's earnings (a drop from 68.7 percent in 2007), and Latinas' earnings were $26,846, 58 percent of men's earnings (a drop from 59 percent in 2007).
Local Coordinators, we are asking you to show your support for equal pay and wear red on Tuesday. Ask your co-workers, your family and your friends to show their support and wear red as well. The Women’s and Fair Practices Departments like to see our Local Coordinators at work and we are asking you to send us pictures of you and your co-workers wearing red on Tuesday, so that we can show that AFGE supports equal pay and fairness for all.
You can e-mail your pictures to washic@afge.org. Please include your name, position and Local.
To find out more about this campaign partnership with the National Committee on Pay Equity, visit www.pay-equity.org.