Twelve ways to make women's lives better

Walmart and other employers aren't treating women well.

On the eve of America's greatest non-denominational holiday, it's a good time to remember there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to make the U.S. live up to the high ideals of its founding fathers. And it begins with improving conditions so the majority gender is on equal footing with males in this country.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a Women's Economic Agenda last week that details 12 measures policymakers can take to improve their lives. They are:

• Raise the minimum wage;
• Eliminate the tipped minimum wage;
• Strengthen collective bargaining rights;
• Strengthen laws against discrimination in hiring, pay and promotion;
• Provide paid family leave;
• Provide paid sick leave;
• Require fair scheduling practices;
• Provide affordable child care and early childhood education;
• Protect and expand Social Security;
• Provide undocumented workers a path towards citizenship;
• Support strong enforcement of labor standards, and;
• Prioritize wage growth and low unemployment when making monetary policy.

As EPI stated in the document:

Over the last several decades, millions of women have joined the workforce and made huge gains in their educational attainment, which exceeds that of men. Yet women are still paid less than men. Indeed, gender wage disparities are present across the wage distribution and within education cohorts, occupations and sectors -- sometimes to a grave degree. Closing the wage gap is essential to helping achieve economic security.

If the U.S. wants a workforce at full employment, policies need to be put in place that allow workers (women and men) the ability to earn a living while also being family friendly. Right now, that's just not the case. It's why the Teamsters rolled out the "Let's Get America Working" platform earlier this year and why other allies have stressed these issues as well.

Congress must value all workers.

Kochs fund shameful attacks on public workers in MI

Michigan's new Gov. Rick Snyder released an extremely dishonest "Citizens' Guide" yesterday. It's a report that pretends to show government workers earn twice as much as their counterparts in the private sector. The report of course is supposed to provide a rationale for deep cuts to government workers' salaries and benefits.

(Note to Gov. Snyder: It wasn't government workers who caused the state budget problems. It was the recession caused by Wall Street's recklessness and collapse. If you think government workers make too much money, what's your opinion of those investment bankers that wrecked the economy?)

TeamsterNation was not surprised to learn that the "report" echoes work by a researcher at the Mackinac Center. That's according to a nasty little screed, "Government is not a jobs bank," written by one Jared Skorup at the Mackinac Center.

The Mackinac Center is the largest state-based free-market corporate predator think-tank and it receives funding from two Koch foundations, the Charles G. Koch Foundation and the Charles R. Lambe Foundation. For a quick tutorial on the Kochs, click here.

The Economic Policy Institute (which is not funded by the Kochs) put the record straight: Michigan's government workers are actually underpaid by 5.3 percent. Read the EPI's report here.

It's time to do something about China's cheating

One of our friends at the Economic Policy Institute, Rob Scott, has a good explainer about China's currency manipulation at The Huffington Post.

Rob explains

Currency manipulation by China and several other Asian nations makes their goods artificially cheap and makes U.S. exports artificially expensive in China and in world markets.

It matters because

The growth of the U.S. trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2008 eliminated 2.4 million U.S. jobs; Ending currency manipulation now could create at least one million badly needed jobs.

Next week, when Congress gets back, there'll be a couple of hearings on tough legislation to crack down on China's currency manipulation.

Stay tuned.

Links 6/25//10

Hoffa: Fund Rail, Infrastructure Repair to Create Good Jobs IBT
Biggest Wall Street Revamp Since 1930s Approved Bloomberg
Congress Fails to Pass an Extension of Jobless Aid New York Times
From card fees to mortgages, a new day for consumers New York Times
Food stamp usage drastically rises in Gulf region following oil spill Think Progress
Fox News is BP oil spill misinformation clearinghouse Media Matters