lclaa on equal pay
By Yanira Merino
It was the 1990s and, my new home in the United States, afforded me a first-hand look at workplace discrimination and wage violations in the city of Los Angeles. There, 30 years ago, I learned firsthand what economic studies continue to prove – Latinas have the lowest earnings of any major race, ethnicity and gender group.
I would not be where I am today, leading the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) without the union difference – better pay, benefits and job protections – if it had not been for the immigrant women I worked and organized alongside in the very shrimp factory that discriminated against me and others like us. There, through our solidarity we rose up to fight poverty wages, discrimination, and unsafe working conditions. We secured a contract that paid us fairly, gave us better benefits, and that protected our rights to unionize and to collectively bargain.
And on Latina Equal Pay Day, December 8th, it is vital that we disrupt the cycle that continues to marginalize Latinas so that we can ensure economic security is no longer a fantasy. Only then, when Latina equal pay becomes a reality can Latinas live and work with dignity and become less susceptible to different forms of workplace violence, including sexual harassment.
Each year Latina Equal Pay Day builds awareness and reminds us all that the average Latina loses $1.2 million dollars in earnings throughout the course of her life. And if that wasn’t sobering enough we know for a fact that 41 percent of working women in the United States are the sole breadwinner for their families and 16.4 percent of these women are Latinas.
Time is of the essence to dismantle gender discrimination in the workplace, recognize equal pay for equal hours worked and weave these essential needs and values of women, mothers, grandmothers and immigrants of color, like me, into the fabric of this nation.
Whether you are a laborer or a civil engineer, if you are Latina in either of these roles, you are paid less. Latinas still make just 54 cents on the dollar compared to white, non-Latino men. But we know that unions can deliver. Women represented by unions earn $212 more per week than their peers in non-labor jobs.
We need action and allyship now. And it is on those in positions of power, who are mainly men, in corporations and even in our unions that the only way to an equal and just society is to pay women for their work, without gender discrimination. Our Latina workforce and women of color deserve to be celebrated for our contributions, courage, heart and steady labor. Equal and fair pay is not enough. We deserve fair treatment, to have fair benefits and to have the same protections afforded to our counterparts.
It is the only way to truly strengthen the workplace and protect our health, families and livelihoods.
No more lip service, no more discrimination. We demand to be paid the wages we earn for the hours we work.
Yanira Merino is the President of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA). LCLAA has become the leading advocacy group for Latina/o working rights in the country. She is a veteran labor leader and immigration rights advocate.
