skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

9 to 5 Working Women: Don’t Overturn Equal Pay Enforcement

play audio
Play

Thursday, October 27, 2011   

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Today, the Wisconsin Senate may vote on a bill that would repeal the ability for victims of discrimination on the job to take their case to civil court. The Equal Pay Enforcement Act became law in Wisconsin in 2009, and the Milwaukee chapter of 9 to 5 Working Women says the proposal to stop enforcing that law would mean a greater burden of discrimination for women.

Felipa Balderas, a member of 9 to 5, lost her job at Walmart after working there 8.5 years. She is very much against the proposal.

"It's not only us as women or workers that are affected, it's our families as well. Like myself, I have a child, and other people that have children and families, we just want equality and fairness at work for everybody. We want the government to be for everyone and not just for a select few. They're rolling back our rights, and who's going to help us stand up for what we deserve?"

Supporters of Senate Bill 202 say companies are not hiring for fear of lawsuits, although 9 to 5 points out there are no such cases in Wisconsin courts, and that women in the state earn on average only 75 percent of what men are paid. In addition, more than 230,000 Wisconsin households are headed by women, and 30 percent of them are living below the federal poverty level.

Balderas says state lawmakers are pushing a bill that does not create jobs but does roll back opportunities for fairness when workers feel they have been discriminated against.

"The Equal Pay Enforcement Act is about the justice system providing options for women like me, who don't have other opportunities and protections. It won't just affect me - it affects my family, and I'm sure other families in the community, as well. Working women deserve better."

Balderas says she was treated unfairly in the workplace and had the courage to speak up about it. Supporters of the bill believe companies will do more hiring when they are not hampered by the threat of discrimination claims.

According to 9 to 5, in Wisconsin a woman's average annual salary is $33,600, and a man's is $44,800.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021