In Honor of International Women’s Day USW Demands Family Sustaining Jobs for all Workers

ContactT: Jess Kamm, 412-562-2446, jkamm@usw.org
                           
The United Steelworkers (USW) issued the following statement today in recognition of International Women’s Day:

(Pittsburgh, PA) – As the USW celebrates International Women's Day and the generations of women worldwide who fought for equal treatment and economic justice, we recognize that we must keep up this struggle until all workers have the family sustaining jobs they deserve.

A record four in 10 American households include women who earn most or all of their family’s income, and nearly two-thirds—or roughly 8.6 million—of these women are single parents.

Women continue to make up a disproportionate number of minimum wage workers, and on average, women earn only $0.77 for every $1 earned by men.

“These disparities severely restrict many women’s capacity to feed, clothe and educate their children and costs them hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of their working lives,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “We cannot allow this to continue.”

Illegal discrimination against women adds to this problem. Since the late 1990s, the number of pregnancy-related discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has steadily increased, as women push back against employers who try to cut their hours, pass them over for promotions or even fire them because of their family status.

“If we want to close the gender pay gap and acknowledge women as equal participants in the work force,” said USW International Vice President at Large Carol Landry, “we must have wages and working conditions that enable all workers to earn enough to support their families.”

The USW represents 850,000 members in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It is the largest private sector union in North America, representing workers in a wide range of industries including metals, mining, rubber, paper and forestry, oil refining, plus office, technical and service workers in health care, security, hotels and municipal governments and agencies. For more, go to www.usw.org.