We’ve just learned that the Chair of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on Paid Sick and Safe Days, the Equal Pay Opportunity Act, and minimum wage legislation next Monday, March 30th at 1:30 p.m.
This puts us one step closer to real progress for Washington women and their families!
It’s going to be close, though. The committee must vote to move these bills forward by Wednesday, April 1 (no fooling!) or they will be dead for the rest of this year.
And we’ve heard that some corporate lobbyists are hard at work to kill the bills – or whittle them down to the point where they actually make it harder for women to earn equal pay and paid leave to support and protect themselves and their families.
Please take a minute to tell your Senator that Paid Sick and Safe Days (HB 1356), the Equal Pay Opportunity Act (HB 1646), and a $12 state minimum wage (HB 1355) are steps that help Washington women advance and strengthen our whole economy. Urge them to pass these bills without crippling amendments.
Washington state has led the charge for women in the past. Women here won the right to vote in 1910, a decade before the rest of the country. We passed the first Equal Pay Act in 1943, while Rosie the Riveters were helping win World War II.
But too many companies continue to discriminate, hiding behind pay secrecy policies and passing women over for higher paying jobs. And too few women – breadwinners for their families – can earn paid sick days on the job.
Take a moment now to tell your state Senator: Washington women deserve a raise, and the right to paid sick and safe leave. All workers do.
Thank you!
Washington Work and Family Coalition 