Support Black Women’s Equal Pay Day on August 13th

You may have heard of Equal Pay Day, which raises awareness of the pay gap between men and women, but it is important to note that Equal Pay Day doesn’t offer the whole picture of wage inequality, because the gap only gets wider when you take race and ethnicity into consideration. Today is August 13th, and for black American women to bring home the same 2019 earnings as men did, this is how far into 2020 they would have to work.

Unions work to close the pay gap by supporting fair promotions that are based on seniority and qualifications rather than favoritism or assuming only certain genders can perform certain tasks, ensuring fair opportunities for training, and collectively bargaining for the same wages for the same work. All of this work leads to union women making 87% more in total compensation and 56% more in wages than their nonunion counterparts, and overall, hourly wages for union women are 9% higher on average than for non-unionized women. Even with all of this hard work we must do better.

So today let’s all use our voices to stand up with black women and fight against racism and for the economic security they have earned and deserve.

To get involved speak out on Twitter on August 13th at 2:00pm Eastern Time, using the hashtags #BlackWomensEqualPay and #OwnYourPower2020 .