The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

On average, women make 78 cents for every dollar men make.  Even though the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which will make it easier for employees to challenge pay discrimination in court, is now law, it alone is not enough to deter employers from paying women lower salaries than men for equal work.

The Paycheck Fairness Act will amend and strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which was designed to abolish pay disparities based on gender, by closing loopholes that made it hard for employees to prove pay discrimination and forbidding employers from retaliating against employees that share salary information.  It passed the House in January at the same time as the Ledbetter bill, but is still pending in the Senate.

The Act will also make it possible for employees that have been discriminated against on the basis of gender will be able to seek unlimited compensatory and punitive damages.  Currently, only employees that are discriminated against for race or national origin are able to do so. The EPA only provides for back pay awards and liquidated damages, which is a sum to be paid in the event a contract is broken that is agreed upon by both parties before the contract is signed.

Deborah Vagins, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said that this will help women of color who often can not isolate whether their discrimination is the result of race or gender. African-American women earn 67 cents for every dollar that White men do, and Hispanic women earn approximately 58 cents for every dollar that White men do.

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is gaining support across the country as well as on Capitol Hill, with more than 150 grassroots organizations joining President Obama, Vice President Biden, and congressional leaders in support of the bill.

EFCA will give workers the option to choose how to form a union, either by ballot or by getting a majority of employees to sign a union-authorization card.

But the Employee Free Choice Act has engaged more than just the labor community. The right to organize affects all Americans, especially in these difficult economic times. A recent poll shows that 73 percent of Americans favor passing legislation that makes it easier for workers to organize.

As part our "Calling for Justice" series, LCCREF held a national conference call last week to discuss the potential impact of EFCA and to rally national, state, and local leaders around the bill. 

"The passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is critically important to all of us; it's critically important to the economy of our country; it's critically important to rebuilding the strength of the middle class," said Wade Henderson, president & CEO of LCCR.

A coalition of civil and human rights organizations, religious organizations, and local activists have come together in support of the bill, including American Rights at Work, whose new ad campaign, Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act, tells the stories of workers who are fighting for their right to organize.

Today is the birthday anniversary of labor leader and civil rights activist César Chávez (1927-1993).

Chávez worked tirelessly throughout his career to get higher wages and better working conditions for underpaid farm workers.  Chavez started out as a community organizer at the Community Service Organization (CSO), a Latino civil rights organization, and eventually became the organization's national director. In 1962, he left the CSO to co-found the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with Dolores Huerta, so he could organize farm workers full time.

As the nation faces a severe recession, workers will need more protection than ever.

The Employee Free Choice Act, which is pending in Congress, will make it easier for workers to form a union by giving them a choice in how they want to form one, either by ballot or by getting a majority of employees to sign a union-authorization card.

"Unions provide a buffer in difficult economic times. They help preserve economic benefits and maintain job security. Moreover, unions do so in a manner that is sensitive to the needs of business," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the LCCR, in testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions yesterday.

Union members on average receive a higher wage than non-union employees, are far more likely to have health care benefits, and have a greater share of health care benefits paid for by their employers.

If you are a victim of employment discrimination, your case is more likely to be dismissed compared with other types of cases, and your chances of winning in court are slim, according to recent studies.