Happy Labor Day 2024

 Can we say Happy Labor Day?

As shared on CBS Sunday Morning April 2024

I also posted last year around this time about the gender gap in job equity. Come over here for more.

That post also was targeted on the ERA which has met the standards of our constitution to become an amendment, and is now waiting for Congress to act on it.

And some more posts from my blog years...

Mine laborers at the end of their shift.

Normal Rockwell's Labor Day cover for 1943 Saturday Evening Post, Liberty Girl, to honor all the jobs women would be doing while men were off fighting WW II.

Some folks have said unions don't have much place these days in the job market. But I certainly cheered for the workers at Amazon who formed a union, as well as those in Starbucks. The working conditions did need to be improved. And this is the only way a group of workers can have a voice.

1933 fresco mural by Diego Rivera at the Detroit Institute of Art

Happy Labor Day America!

The first Labor Day was held in 1882. Its origins stem from the desire of the Central Labor Union to create a holiday for workers. It became a federal holiday in 1894. It was originally intended that the day would be filled with a street parade to allow the public to appreciate the work of the trade and labor organizations. After the parade, a festival was to be held to amuse local workers and their families. In later years, prominent men and women held speeches. This is less common now, but is sometimes seen in election years. One of the reasons for choosing to celebrate this on the first Monday in September, and not on May 1, which is common in the rest of the world, was to add a holiday in the long gap between Independence Day and Thanksgiving.

And an inspiring quote:

Hate has talked so loudly for so long.  Greed has talked so loudly for so long.  Liars have talked so loud for so long.

Love has to stop whispering.

- Marianne Williamson

Women, where are you now?

A newsletter in my in-box Monday! Interesting thoughts come through the women and men pushing for North Carolina to ratify the ERA. 

Gender Wages: Same old gap, same old crap.

"It’s Labor Day 2023: do you know where your equity is? Things today are not far from where they stood 20 years ago. One hopeful change: younger female workers’ pay is creeping closer to younger men’s. On the downside, older women are still at a gross disadvantage, particularly older Black and Hispanic women.

Try living on $30,000 a year, especially if you’re a single mom. Two out of three full-time workers with jobs that pay less than $30,000 a year are female!

We know that women’s work is largely undervalued. Some experts say the real gap lies in the ‘choices’ women make. Let’s see ... should I take a part-time job so I’m home when kids get out of school? Or pay a childcare person who may make more than I do? One tough choice after another is what moms are forced to make. The problem is societal, not just corporate.

Source: U S. Department of Labor

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Alliance sponsors NCAWA Conference "Good lawyers are our good friends when fighting for justice. That’s why we’re proud to sponsor the N.C. Association of Women Attorneys annual conference to be held in Charlotte on Sept. 29.   Our task force on gender references in North Carolina’s statutes is humming along, quietly making progress with suggested edits to ensure nondiscrimination in the language of our laws."

If Nevada can do it, we can too.

"On the eve of the 100^th anniversary of the ERA, Nevada voters did something even more historic than authoring the Equal Rights Amendment.

One ‘yes’ at a time, they amended their state constitution to guarantee equal rights for all,
regardless of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.

The amendment was on the ballot and the people decided. They voted for what was fair, for justice for their families, their neighbors, themselves.

North Carolinians can do the same. Join the ERA-NC Alliance and let’s make it happen."

Thanks ERA NC Alliance!

Women's Rights still wobbling along...certainly not equal to men's

 The ERA gives a great umbrella which might just affect the Supremes ongoing denial of women's reproductive rights. If the Senate hadn't voted against ratifying it, thanks to Repulsive-cans.

"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

CNN posted on Thursday May 11, 2023...under Five Things:

17

That's how many advisers for the FDA voted unanimously Wednesday in support of an over-the-counter birth-control pill, saying the benefits outweigh the risks. The FDA doesn't have to follow its advisers' advice, but it often does. If approved, it will be the first birth-control pill available over the counter in the US. The FDA is expected to make a decision on the matter this summer.