A Quote by Jan Schakowsky

I've fought to close the gender and racial pay gap for a very long time. One piece of advice I like to give whenever I'm speaking on the subject: if you want equal pay, join a union! I've never seen a union contract that pays women 79 cents to a man's dollar.
Today, women make up about half our workforce. But they still make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. That is wrong, and in 2014, it’s an embarrassment. Women deserve equal pay for equal work.
Join the union, girls, and together say Equal Pay for Equal Work.
If you don't want to join a union, you're gonna have much more opportunity for individual expansion, individual expression of talent and achievement. But when you go to work at a place where salaries are predetermined not by your productivity and not by your talent and not by how much you work, but rather by what the union contract is, you're locked into that no matter how good a job you do. The only option you have is overtime to make more than what standard pay is.
My preference is that employees pay their union dues, but what I also get is that I'd rather someone be in the union than not in the union.
Equal pay is not yet equal. A woman makes $0.77 on a dollar and women of color make $0.67... We feel so passionately about this because we are not only running for office, but we each, in our own way, have lived it. We have seen it. We have understood the pain and the injustice that has come because of race, because of gender. And it's imperative that... we make it very clear that each of us will address these issues.
When we talk about gender pay gaps in the United States, and if you look at women without children, they earn 96 cents for every dollar that a man is earning, while for mothers it is about 76 cents. That's nearly 25 percent less. For single mothers, the situation is even worse. One third of them are living in poverty or just on the edge of poverty. This is an unacceptable situation.
I respect unions, I think they have an important role to pay and I listen to them, we meet with them, and they raise valid points on a lot of issues like worker safety and so forth, but I also respect the right of individual workers to decide whether they want to pay that fee and whether they want to join a union.
Equal pay for equal work continues to be seen as applying to equal pay for men and women in the same occupation, while the larger point of continuing relevance in our day is that some occupations have depressed wages because women are the chief employee. The former is a pattern of sex discrimination, the latter of institutionalized sexism.
If I were a factory employee, a workman on the railroads or a wage-earner of any sort, I would undoubtedly join the union of my trade. If I disapproved of its policy, I would join in order to fight that policy; if the union leaders were dishonest, I would join in order to put them out. I believe in the union and I believe that all men who are benefited by the union are morally bound to help to the extent of their power in the common interests advanced by the union.
Every woman needs to know when she's being discriminated against and what the reasons are why she isn't getting equal pay so we can close that pay gap.
I believe if an individual wants to join organized labor and work under a union contract, they should have the legal right to do so. At the same token, a person who does not want to work under organized labor and wants to work should have the ability to do so without the threat of having to join and having to pay dues to organized labor.
What we need to do is raise the minimum wage. We also need to hold onto equal pay. Women work for 76 cents on the dollar for the same work that men do. That's not right in America.
The reality is that no one can be forced to join a union against their will, and a union cannot take action against those who decide not to join their union.
In 1973, women got 59 cents on the dollar; now we are getting 74 cents on the dollar. In the area of finance and business, we are at 68 cents on the dollar.
We should not wait any longer to ensure that women get the pay they deserve. I will keep fighting for this until we achieve equality. I am very thankful for all those who are already advocating for equal pay, and I hope others will join me in this fight.
The union of lakes--the union of lands-- The union of States none can sever-- The union of hearts--the union of hands-- And the flag of our Union for ever!
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