Does that explain the differences in our salaries? payequityresearch.com

Transcription

1 Does that explain the differences in our salaries?

2 The Naked Truth The majority of women and people of color working in the USA have lower salaries due to gender and race discrimination. In NYS and the USA there is NO legal protection against salary discrimination that pays job titles primarily done by women and people of color less than other equally- evaluated job titles (pay equity). Little if any protection against unequal-pay for equal-work.

3 What Does Salary Inequity Cost? Initial Salary Difference = $1000 Salary Increments Averaging 3.5% Over a 40 Year Career Accumulated Loss = $84,550 Pension and Social Security Impact A difference of $2000 would more than double the impact because of compounding

4 Equal Pay? Pay Equity? What's the Diff? Equal Pay for Equal Work - You are doing the same work for the same employer. (Think comparisons of individual s s salaries within the same job title, you are both nurses, media specialists or data entry operators.) Equal Pay for Equally Evaluated Jobs - female/minority-job title v. white male-job title (Think comparisons between job titles such as data entry operators, nurses and librarians with job titles where white men predominate such as truck drivers, civil engineers and media specialists.)

5 Federal Equal-Pay Pay-for-Equal-Work Laws Unequal Pay for Equal Work is supposedly illegal but, unfortunately, our federal laws are weak and unenforceable in the private sector where the vast majority of people work. 1) In the private sector, salaries are kept secret by employers, a practice that includes firing employees for sharing information about their pay. 2) Suits are necessary to correct inequities and on May 29, 2007 the Supreme Court made it practically impossible to bring a successful suit in the private sector.

6 Millions go to work every day and work for less than their work is worth. Clerical, support staff, data entry nurses and caregivers food service workers teacher aides teaching assistants library workers garment workers retail sales clerks early childhood educators social workers

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8 Pay Equity/Comparable Worth How do you decide which jobs are comparable? How could we tell if the Data Retrieval Specialist and File Clerk in the cartoon we just saw were similar jobs?

9 Compare different job titles? How can you compare apples and oranges. Any common denominator will do - vitamins, calories, juice or sugar content, etc.

10 All large employers compare apples and oranges (different jobs) for the purposes of pay They do so using Job evaluation which applies common denominator dimensions to each class or job title to end up with point values for each job.

11 Some examples of common denominators used in most job evaluation systems Job knowledge (the education and experience required) Accountability Accountability (responsibility for people, budgets, resources, reputations) Human relationship skills (the communication abilities required) Management/Supervision (the responsibility for the work of others) Working conditions (the amount of exposure to discomfort and hazards)

12 Examples of Job Titles with Similar Value (JE Points)with Different Pay Minnesota JE Points Registered Nurse (F) 275 Vocational Teacher (M) 275 San Jose, CA Legal Secretary (F) 226 Carpenter (M) 226 Washington State Food Service worker (F) 93 Truck Driver (M) 94 Monthly Salary difference in male favor - $537 Monthly Salary difference in male favor - $375 Monthly Salary difference in male favor - $332

13 Results - male job title scatter Job Rate ($ Per Hour) Job Value

14 Results - male and female job title scatter Job Rate ($ Per Hour) Job Value

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16 Remedy Job Rate ($Per Hour) Job Value

17 But come on, this is the 21st century. Aren t there laws against job titles where women and minorities predominate being under paid? Yes, plenty of them, in: Minnesota Canada New Zealand Australia European countries Scandinavian countries

18 A brief history of lobbying for Pay Equity in NYS In 1988, Women on the Job, filed a complaint with the NYS Division of Human Rights on behalf of school secretaries paid as much as 34% less than the male janitors. In 1998, despite a finding of probable cause and years of investigations, hearings, and delays, the discrimination charges were dismissed. The Commissioner stated that the law covers only equalpay for equal-work not equal pay for comparable or equally evaluated job titles.

19 A brief history of lobbying for Pay Equity in NYS For the Women on the Job Task Force (WOJTF) there was only one recourse - change the law in NYS. Hearings were held and bills drafted. NYSPEC supports the NYS Fair Pay bill because it has strong enforceable language. This bill was passed the Assembly in And again in 2003 And again in 2004 And again in 2005 And again in 2006 And again in 2007

20 The short story of the long history of these bills They pass the State Assembly with bipartisan support and with great fanfare. But, they are bottled up in committee in the State Senate

21 The Good News Advocates for pay equity have been active. NYS Pay Equity Coalition (NYSPEC) is growing and is raising the visibility of this issue. See your brochures for the unions, regional women s s and civil rights organizations involved. We have been meeting with NYSPEC member organizations to assure that pay equity is part of their active lobbying agenda. On April 2 nd 2008 Gloria Steinem will be in Albany to bring attention to the need for fair pay. See your flyers

22 NYS Fair Pay Bill on Equal Pay for Equal Work PRIVATE SECTOR--THE PROBLEM The vast majority of workers are employed in the private sector where salaries can be kept secret and employees can be fired for sharing salary information. Employees who are in the same job title have no way of knowing when they are being paid equally for equal work. THE SOLUTION Sections 754 of the NYS Fair Pay Bill makes it illegal for employers to dismiss or otherwise reprimand employees for sharing salary information, making it possible to establish equal pay for equal work.

23 NYS Fair Pay Bill on Equal Pay for Comparable Worth The NYS Fair Pay Act has strong enforceable language amending the Labor Law to make it unlawful for an employer to pay employees different substantially wages for jobs titles of comparable worth.

24 How We Know that Comparable Worth is Worth it! In 1987 comparable worth adjustments (reclassification to higher salary grades) were made to 239 NYS job titles. All of the employees in these job titles, over 47,000 of them, received raises. Approximately, one quarter of those receiving raises were men. Lets look at just 6 of these job titles and imagine the impact on the lives and families of those getting these increments over the last 20 years.

25 How We Know that Comparable Worth is Worth it! Titles # in Job Title in 1987 Before Salary Grade After Salary Grade Before Job Rate After Job Rate One Year Salary Increase Estimated Income Gain Per Person in 20 Years Library Clerk $18,449 $20,521 $2,072 $55,675 Library Clerk $22,946 $27,033 $4,087 $109,819

26 How We Know that Comparable Worth is Worth it! Titles # in Job Title in 87 Before Salary Grade After Salary Grade Before Job Rate After Job Rate One Year Salary Increase Estimated Income Gain Per Person in 20 Years Food Serv. Worker $18,449 $20,521 $2,072 $55,675 Food Serv. Worker $20,521 $25,585 $5,064 $136,072

27 How We Know that Comparable Worth is Worth it! Titles # in Job Title in 1987 Before Salary Grade After Salary Grade Before Job Rate After Job Rate One Year Salary Increase Estimated Income Gain Per Person in 20 Years File Clerk, Typist, and Clerk $15,071 $17,472 $2,401 $64,516 Principle Clerk $22,946 $27,033 $4,087 $109,819

28 What you can do to support the NYS Fair Pay Act Ask your unions and other organizations to ACTIVELY lobby for the NYS Fair Pay Bill. Lobby Senator Bruno and your State Senators - Ask that they get the bill out of committee and on to the floor for consideration by the full Senate. Please make a donation to NYSPEC either as an individual or a group mail to Women on the Job a project of Long Island Fund for Women and Girls 1740 Old Jericho Turnpike, Jericho, NY or in Albany contact haigner@nycap.rr.com, THANK YOU in advance.

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30 Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

31 The slides after this slide are sometimes used in Q&A or discussions

32 Pay Equity is just a Equal pay is just disguised attack on the free market system. It flies in the face of the values that make this country great! Exactly what values are those? Well,... cheap labor for one.

33 Can you escape the job title ghetto? Doubtful Lawyers pharmacists administrators bank management insurance adjusters bar tenders public relations systems analysts What happens when traditionally male jobs integrate? Salaries go down. See Reskin and Roos Job Queues, Gender Queues

34 Job segregation in 2020? The major engines of gender integration seem to have lost steam. The number of women entering male fields has shrunk in recent years. About 30 % of women would have to change jobs to match the male distribution, a difference roughly constant since 1985.

35 How We Know that Comparable Worth is Worth it! Titles # in Job Title in 87 Before Salary Grade After Salary Grade Before Job Rate After Job Rate One Year Salary Increase Estimated Income Gain Per Person in 20 Years Social Work Asst $29,847 $31,497 $1,650 $44,336 Social Worker $34,523 $36,253 $1,730 $46,486

36 How We Know that Comparable Worth is Worth it! Titles # in Job Title in 1987 Before Salary Grade After Salary Grade Before Job Rate After Job Rate One Year Salary Increase Estimated Income Gain Per Person in 20 Years LP Nurse $20,521 $21,694 $1,173 $31,519 Nurse Adm $34,523 $36,253 $1,730 $46,486

37 The Slides that follow The rest of the slides in this presentation provide examples of the job content evaluating factors that employers use to compare jobs. The pay equity reform asks only that the systems already in place be used in a gender and race neutral way so as to pay jobs where women and minorities predominate the same as comparable jobs primarily done by white males.

38 Job Knowledge and Skill High school - fractions, decimals, basic grammar Below high school - basic reading and math skills High school plus additional job related courses Two year college program or equivalent Bachelors degree or equivalent Masters and/or recognized professional certification Doctoral degree or other professionally specialized knowledge or training

39 Interpersonal Skills Basic interpersonal effectiveness required to clarify facts and information Considerable communication and listening skill required to interpret requirements, motivate, serve and/or care for others High degree of interpersonal skill required to persuade, gather information and instruct others

40 Responsibility/Accountability Limited - Work is directly supervised and no discretion is required Moderate - Finished work is checked and some discretion is allowed within rules High - Work is evaluated based on organization policy and judgement is necessary to set objectives affecting units Extreme - Work is unsupervised and judgement is used to initiate and monitor policies that impact the entire organization

41 Management/Supervision May assist others with established procedures Schedules, assigns and coordinates but has no responsibility for discipline or promotion establishes work processes and procedures, reviews work and may have responsibility for discipline and promotion Establishes goals and operational objectives and work processes for diverse situations and has formal responsibility for hiring, discipline and promotion

42 Working conditions - environment Comfortable environment Slightly dirty, noisy, not uniformly heated - no health hazards Occasional exposure to heat, cold, obnoxious dirt or waste, loud noise, contagious disease - some health and safety risks Frequent exposure to extreme weather wetness, odors, obnoxious dirt or waste, intense noise, contagious disease - risks require safety equipment