Virginia—It’s Time for an Intervention!

Eileen Toback, AFL-CIO political organizer in the Voice@Work campaign, updates us on what’s at stake for working families in the November elections in Virginia, where state Senate races are expected to be decided by just a few hundred votes.  

Joyce Putnam, a member of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 2, is one the superstar activists working on Virginia’s Labor 2007 program. As a working mother, she understands why it is so important to elect representatives who advocate for working families.  

Putnam knows she has more opportunities with better pay because of the union. As she notes (see video): 

Unions have opened doors for women that have traditionally been closed. 

She has benefited from getting a job on a survey crew because she had reliable union seniority. 

Union membership helps raise workers’ pay and narrow the income gap that disadvantages minorities and women. Union workers earn 30 percent more than nonunion workers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their median weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary work were $833 in 2006, compared with $642 for their nonunion counterparts. 

The union wage benefit is even greater for minorities and women. Union women earn 31 percent more than nonunion women. African American union members earn 36 percent more than their nonunion counterparts. For Latino workers, the union advantage equals 46 percent and for Asian American workers, the union advantage is 8 percent. 

However, working women in Virginia are not as far along the road to equal pay as women in many states. In 2000, Virginia’s working women earned 75.9 percent as much per hour as men, while nationwide, women earned 77.6 percent as much per hour as men. Virginia ranked 32nd among all states in equal pay.  

At the current rate of change, working women in Virginia—as well as working women nationwide—won’t have equal pay until after 2050. This time frame is not acceptable! We need allies in the state legislature to speed up the clock. 

It is time for an intervention on Nov. 6! We can make the difference. This Saturday, Nov. 3, all of us need to be at our final labor-to-labor walk—and bring a friend. Click here to find out dates and times for Virginia phone banks and walks.

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