MAJOR EVENTS IN
PAY EQUITY HISTORY
- Federal Economic Act passes to ban wives of federal
employees from holding government positions. It also
declares that women with employed husbands be first
on the lists for firing.
- National Recovery Act requires women who hold jobs
with the government to receive 25 percent less pay than
men in the same jobs.
- War Labor Board rules women must be paid same job
rate as men (now off to war) were paid. War ends before
rule can be enforced. No law requires either pay equity
or equal pay.
- Equal pay bills are introduced by Sen. Wayne Morse
(D-OR) and Rep. Edith Green (D-OR); Republican versions
by New York Reps. Katherine St. George and Jessica Weis.
- Labor activist Esther Peterson heads Women's Bureau,
gains responsibility for pushing legislation, gathers
data, builds coalitions, wins allies. Equal Pay bill
is introduced. Original bill includes comparable worth,
stronger enforcement; final bill does not.
- Equal Pay Act passes providing equal pay for women
for equal work.
- Civil Rights Bill passes. Title VII bans employment
discrimination against women.
- International Union of Electronic, Salaried, Machine
and Furniture Workers sues Westinghouse. The company
had set up a wage rate structure in the 1930's; scores
for women's jobs were automatically reduced merely because
they were performed by women, not an unusual attitude
- 20 women's groups, professional organizations and
unions form the National Committee on Pay Equity. Founders
include unions such as IUE, AFSCME, SEIU, UAW, NTEU,
women's groups such as Business and Professional Women,
NOW, Women's Legal Defense Fund, League of Women Voters,
National Commission on Working Women, NARAL, Coalition
of Labor Union Women, National Association of Office
Workers, National Commission on Working Women, professional
groups such as the American Library Association and
the George Meany Center. Now there is an organization
to educate, lobby and build coalitions on pay equity.
The EEOC, chaired by Eleanor Holmes-Norton, studies
pay in female-dominated occupations.
A DECADE OF ACTION
ON MANY FRONTS
The 1981 Supreme Court decision
(Gunther) rules Title VII covers wage discrimination
even if jobs are different. Action on the state and
local level heats up. Unions make pay equity gains on
picket lines, at bargaining tables, in state legislatures,
and in the courts. Government and think-tank studies
show continuing wage gap. Pay equity bills, primarily
relating to Federal workers, win in the House (with
bipartisan support) but lose in the Senate. By the end
of the 1980's, despite growing public support for pay
equity, a more conservative Supreme Court and unfriendly
administrations have put up roadblocks to progress.
OF THE 1980's
- In County of Washington (Oregon) v. Gunther, the Supreme
Court rules that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act applies
even if jobs are different. Prison matrons earned only
70 percent of what male prison guards were paid, though
their jobs scored almost the same job evaluation points.
This landmark victory brought them up to 95 percent
of what male guards earned.
- The 1974 IUE suit against Westinghouse is settled
right after the Gunther decision. IUE negotiates new
contract providing upgrades of 85 predominantly female
job categories, backpay, and wage increases.
- San Jose (CA) city workers are first workers to strike
for pay equity. Their victory brings $1.5 million in
pay equity adjustments (and more in succeeding contracts).
- Minnesota passes first pay equity law for public workers.
Health care and clerical workers are major groups affected;
90 percent of those getting pay boosts are women. Examples:
clerk typist 2 now paid same as delivery van driver;
nurse now paid same as vocational education teacher.
Cost to state: only 3.7 percent of state payroll.
- Newspaper Guild bargaining in Manchester, NH wins
upgrades in female advertising jobs. AFSCME in New York
files "911" suit -- argues that 911 police
emergency operators (female) deserve same pay as fire
dispatchers (male). Bills to study pay equity in Federal
employment are introduced in Congress. State of Washington
found liable for discriminatory wage rates.
- Advocates battle attack on pay equity by Clarence
Pendleton, Chair, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, who
calls pay equity "the looniest idea since Looney
Tunes." Yale clerical and technical workers (HERE)
win first major strike in private sector over pay equity.
Federal workers pay equity bill passes House 413-6 but
loses in Senate 51-47. 20 states conduct pay equity
surveys; 4 make pay equity adjustments.
- Los Angeles negotiates $12 million pay equity pay
adjustment with AFSCME. Newspaper Guild bargaining in
Eugene, OR narrows wage gap in advertising jobs. AFSCME
and state of Washington agree on $100 million pay equity
adjustment. EEOC Chair Clarence Thomas says comparable
worth was not worthy of consideration in discrimination
complaints. Again, Federal workers pay equity bill passes
House 259-162; stalls in Senate.
1986-1987 - Ontario (Canada) first jurisdiction in world
to pass pay equity law for both public and private sectors.
Pay equity (sex and race) bills for Federal employees
introduced in Congress.
- Pay Equity for Federal workers passes House 302-98.
National Committee on Pay Equity celebrates its 10th
Anniversary, now has 120 organizational members. 24
states have pay equity studies, 20 states have made
some pay adjustments. San Francisco completes March
1987 pay equity adjustment agreement made with SEIU
and other unions after nine years of struggle.
1990's: SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS TOWARD FAIR PAY
- In 1991, AFSCME (New York) wins $1 million in back
pay for more than 1,000 female 911 operators in case
originating in 1983. Principal medical technologists
close $4,000 gap with principal analytical chemists
in Detroit in 1991. Hofstra University (Long Island,
NY) completes pay equity adjustments begun after 1989
- 911 operators in Detroit win pay equity in 1993. 30th
Anniversary of Equal Pay Act is celebrated. Wage gap
between men and women is still 30 percent. Secretary
of Labor Robert Reich expresses concern about lack of
- July 20, 1994, FAIR PAY ACT OF 1994 introduced in
Congress by Delegate Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC) calling
for employers to pay fairly for equivalent jobs. April
7, 1995, Fair Pay Act of 1995 re-introduced into Congress.
Thousands of women sign National Petition for Fair Pay,
coordinated by National Committee on Pay Equity.
- March 28, 1996, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) introduces
the Fair Pay Act into the Senate. April 11, 1996, President Bill Clinton declares the first annual "National Pay Inequity Awareness Day" and urges employers to ensure fair pay policies. September 20, 1996,
NCPE testifies before a joint House and Senate Democratic
Caucus Forum on the Families First Agenda which prominently
features fair pay issues. January 21, 1997, Senator
Tom Daschle introduces the Paycheck Fairness Act to
enhance resources and enforcement of the Equal Pay Act.
January 30, 1997, Senator Tom Harkin re-introduces the
Fair Pay Act in the Senate; Congresswomen Eleanor Holmes-Norton
re-introduces the House version on April 10, 1997. April
11, 1997, hundreds of women commemorate National Pay
Inequity Awareness Day with nationwide rallies, state
and local proclamations, and educational workshops about
the wage gap.
June 24, 1997, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro introduces
the Paycheck Fairness Act in the House. On July 22,
1997, Council 26 of the American Federation of State
County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) files a class
action lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
and a claim under the Equal Pay Act on behalf of women
custodians employed by the Architect of the U.S. Capitol.
The suit charges that the women are paid significantly
less than their male co-workers for performing essentially
the same work.
- Six hundred local women's groups, labor unions, and
others across the country commemorate Equal Pay Day
on April 3 by holding rallies, press conferences, and
luncheons; organizing discounts at local restaurants;
handing out cookies reduced in size to reflect the wage
gap to local elected officials; handing out "Equal"
Pay Day candy bars; marching to their state capitols;
and more. In conjunction with Equal Pay Day, Vice President
Gore announces new policy initiatives aimed a closing
the wage gap and pledges the Administration's support
for the Paycheck Fairness Act. On June 10, 1998 -- the
35th anniversary of the signing of the Equal Pay Act
-- President Clinton holds a press conference at the
White House and urges Members of Congress to pass legislation
to close the wage gap, saying, "You wouldn't tolerate
getting to vote in three out of every four elections.
You wouldn't like it if someone said you could only
pick up three out of every four paychecks. But that
is, in effect, what we have said to the women of America."
Also speaking at this event are Dr. Dorothy Height,
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vice President Gore,
Tipper Gore, and several Members of Congress.
In May of 1998, 115 clerical workers
in the Sachem School District in New York -- also known
as the Sachem Suffragettes -- celebrate their new contract,
which includes the first steps to achieving pay equity
with custodial workers. The suffragettes, members of
the United Public Service Employees union, had waged
a ten year fight for pay equity that culminated in passage
of legislation in the New York State Assembly guaranteeing
pay equity protection for every woman in New York.
- On January 19, 1999, President Clinton mentions equal
pay among his priorities outlined in his annual State
of the Union Address before Congress and the nation.
As the New York Times reports the next morning,
"Mr. Clinton exuded ease and a sense of political
control, reacting with unmistakable delight when both
sides of the chamber erupted in applause for his call
for equal pay for equal work by women or men."
The following week, on January 30, 1999, the President
dedicates his weekly radio address to the issue of fair
pay, proposing a $14 million initiative to help narrow
the wage gap.
On April 7, 1999, President Clinton,
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Secretary of
Labor Alexis Herman host a roundtable discussion on
equal pay at the White House. A scientist, a clerk,
a coach and a nurse all share their personal stories
with wage discrimination in America. On April 8, 1999,
tens of thousands of women mobilize nationwide for Equal
This paper written for NCPE by
Connie Kopelov, June 1994; updated, April 1997; updated
March 1998; updated August, 1999.