Coalition of Labor Union Women

Join CLUW TODAY, APRIL 10th AT 2:00 PM ET: #EQUALPAYDAY SOCIAL MEDIA STORM

Updated On: Apr 10, 2018

This year, in honor of silence breakers everywhere, the Coalition of Labor Union Women and our partners in the Equal Pay Day Coalition – women’s rights, civil rights, and labor rights advocates -- is using the 2018 Equal Pay Day, April 10th to shine a light on efforts to level the playing field between employees and employers by focusing on pay transparency as a means of closing the gender wage gap. Join us in calling for:

EEOC pay data collection;
Passage of the federal Paycheck Fairness Act and local/state bills that close the gender wage gap; and
High road employers who post salary ranges, limit the use of prior salary, conduct pay audits, and protect employees who discuss pay at work.

WHAT: Equal Pay Day Coalition Social Media Storm

WHEN: Tuesday, April 10, 2018 at 2:00 – 3:00 pm ET

WHERE: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat using hashtags #equalpayday, #talkpay, and #time4transparency. (see sample tweets below)

BACKGROUND: Equal Pay Day -- April 10, 2018 -- is the approximate date the typical woman must work to make what the typical man made at the end of 2017. Women who work full time, year-round in the United States are paid only 80 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. Over a 40-year career, this can cost a woman over $400,000. When you factor in race, the wage gap is wider. When compared to White, non-Hispanic men, Latinas earn 54 cents for every dollar, Black women earn 63 cents for every dollar, and White women earn 79 cents for every dollar.

Therefore, while Equal Pay Day compares all women to all men, the Equal Pay Days for women of color fall much later in the year. Women of color, therefore, must work far longer to achieve equity, while losing far more over the course of their lifetimes. That’s not equitable at all. And in 2018, it’s no longer acceptable.

It’s time for multi-pronged solutions that seek to close the gender wage gap by addressing its many contributors: lack of pay transparency, hiring, pay and promotion discrimination based on gender and at the intersections of race, national origin, sexual orientation, pregnancy, and caregiver status; occupational segregation; wage theft and an inadequate minimum wage; unfair workplace policies; lack of paid leave; lack of affordable childcare; and sexual harassment in the workplace.

Find some sample tweets here:

Harsh Reality: Women are paid 80¢ for every $1 paid to men. We need #equalpay now! http://bit.ly/paygap101 #EqualPayDay
Over a 40-year career, the avg woman loses $418K to the #WageGap. But many groups of women lose so much more than that. We need #EqualPay now! #EqualPayDay #TalkPay
Increasingly, women are heads of household. Paycheck unfairness hurt America’s working families #EqualPayDay #EqualPayNow
The #PaycheckFairnessAct would help close the #wagegap by giving workers stronger tools to combat wage discrimination. #EqualPayDay
Unions can boost women's wages by nearly 30% and may help narrow the gender wage gap https://iwpr.org/publications/union-advantage-women-2018/ #EqualPayDay #UnionsMatter