Senate to take up fair wage bill

From the AFT e-Activist Network:

Next week, the Senate will debate and consider legislation (H.R. 2831) to overturn and correct the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.

Lilly Ledbetter worked at Goodyear for nearly 20 years before she discovered that men in the same job were being paid more. The Supreme Court ruled that wage discrimination complaints must be filed within 180 days of the initial discriminatory salary decision, even if the victim is unaware of the discrimination until much later. This 5-4 decision by the Bush Supreme Court reversed decades of precedent on wage discrimination cases decided under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

The House already has passed the Fair Pay Restoration Act. The Senate will debate and vote on the bill next week—so there is not a moment left to lose!

It is now critical that the Senate take immediate action to reverse the Supreme Court’s assault on women’s right to sue by passing the Fair Pay Restoration Act. Urge your senators to support the Fair Pay Restoration Act (H.R. 2831)

Thank you for your advocacy on this important issue. Celebrate Equal Pay Day, April 22nd, by contacting your senators today!

McCain’s gas tax plan a holiday from common sense

A commentary by Jim Anderson:

John McCain has suggested a suspension of the Federal gasoline tax this summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  Tim Curry in an article over at MSNBC comments that “you may have heard the Republican presidential nominee propose something similar before — 12 years ago when the GOP nominee’s name was Dole, not McCain.” Curry also notes that “more recently, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, running for election in 2006, proposed the ‘The Menendez Federal Gas Tax Holiday Amendment . . . .’” 

Currently the Federal gas tax is 18.4 cents a gallon.  When gas is selling for about $3.50 a gallon, as it was around here today, that is about five percent of the cost.  The higher the price of a gallon goes, the smaller a percentage the fixed tax represents. If gas sells for $4.00 a gallon this summer, the Federal gas tax as a percentage will drop to 4.6 %.  The states also impose gas taxes, and generally all of the taxes go to support road construction and repair. So it is a user-fee; the more you drive, the more you pay.

McCain rightly describes the gas tax as “regressive.” The poor have to pay it to get to work, and it amounts to a higher percentage of their income than it would for the wealthy or middle-class. Normally, I am against regressive taxation, but I am willing to make an exception in the case of the gas tax.  First, high gas taxes (which the Fed tax is not) discourage gas consumption, and that is a good thing to do.  Second, gas taxes help support the transportation system. With an even higher Federal gasoline tax, we could even finance a decent mass transit system for the United States and its cities.  Then the poor could ride a less expensive train or bus to work.  So, instead of pandering to voters with his lame and recylced gas tax holiday idea, McCain ought to do the right thing and proposed a hike in the tax to the levels in Europe.  But he won’t because he is just another in a line of “cut taxes and keep on spending” Republicans.