gender racial pay equity press release
DESCRIPTION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 29, 2015 Contact: Karen Stratton Spokane City Councilmember 509.625.6712 **********************************************SPOKANE CITY COUNCIL WOMEN CALL FOR END TO GENDER AND RACIAL PAY BIAS**********************************************City Council Members Karen Stratton, Candace Mumm and Amber Waldref announced an initiative today to address gender and racial pay bias in the City of Spokane. They are creating a task force to investigate inequities in salaries and wages based on gender and race in the Spokane City Government. “For every dollar a man makes in Washington State, a woman makes only seventy-eight cents. This is hurting Spokane families and the Spokane economy” said Spokane City Councilmember Karen Stratton . The Task Force will be made up of community stakeholders including representatives of the city’s workforce, City Civil Service, members of the City Human Right Commission, local non-profits, business leaders and Women’s and Gender Studies faculty at local universities. The stakeholders will help the City of Spokane formulate creative solutions to address this endemic problem. “They will analyze data to gain a better understanding of specific opportunities and challenges, including positions with discretionary pay and those departments with the largest differentials between the number of male and female employees and employees of color” points out Council Member Amber Waldref. They will examine pay differentials in each City department. This initiative follows the March press conference at Greater Spokane Incorporated hosted by the Washington State Women’s Funding Alliance, featuring the Institute for Women’s Policy Research report .In the City of Spokane in 2009, the total population living below the poverty level was 18.6%. For families with children under 18, the rate was 23.5%. For a female householder with no husband present, 34.5% lived below the poverty level. “This wage and salary gap impacts women of color and single moms the most,” said Council Member Candace Mumm. “In many cases, we are placing our women and children in financial jeopardy for lack of equal pay in our city, not necessarily because women are being paid less for the same work but because women are segregated into lower paying careers.”Confidential exempt position salaries, those jobs in city government not governed by Civil Service, increased an average of almost 7% per year between 2007 and 2011,” said Council member Stratton. “These increases occurred primarily during an economic contraction – and at a time when rank and file wages grew at less than half that rate. This may be the biggest disconnect at City Hall, where the highest pay employees received substantial pay increases while the lowest paid employees’ pay did not keep pace with the cost of living.”The Task Force will meet bimonthly through the end of the year, at which time it will provide the City Council with policy recommendations that remove implicit bias and other forms of exclusionary practices that inadvertently create gender and racially-based inequities in both employment and contracting. “This issue needs to be addressed, because over time it can add up to serious money and have an impact on retirement income” says Councilmember Stratton. “Councilmembers Mumm, Waldref and I won’t stop until all women in the City of Spokane get their 22 cents.”TRANSCRIPT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 29, 2015 Contact: Karen Stratton Spokane City Councilmember 509.625.6712
**********************************************SPOKANE CITY COUNCIL WOMEN CALL FOR END TO GENDER AND RACIAL PAY BIAS**********************************************
City Council Members Karen Stratton, Candace Mumm and Amber Waldref announced an initiative today to address gender and racial pay bias in the City of Spokane. They are creating a task force to investigate inequities in salaries and wages based on gender and race in the Spokane City Government.
For every dollar a man makes in Washington State, a woman makes only seventy-eight cents. This is hurting Spokane families and the Spokane economy said Spokane City Councilmember Karen Stratton[footnoteRef:1]. The Task Force will be made up of community stakeholders including representatives of the citys workforce, City Civil Service, members of the City Human Right Commission, local non-profits, business leaders and Womens and Gender Studies faculty at local universities. [1: Stum, Blaine. Gender Pay (In)equity at the City of Spokane, City of Spokane Human Rights Commission. Submitted to Spokane City Council November, 2014. ]
The stakeholders will help the City of Spokane formulate creative solutions to address this endemic problem. They will analyze data to gain a better understanding of specific opportunities and challenges, including positions with discretionary pay and those departments with the largest differentials between the number of male and female employees and employees of color points out Council Member Amber Waldref. They will examine pay differentials in each City department. This initiative follows the March press conference at Greater Spokane Incorporated hosted by the Washington State Womens Funding Alliance, featuring the Institute for Womens Policy Research report[footnoteRef:2]. [2: Status of Women in Washington: Forging Pathways to Leadership and Economic Opportunity.]
In the City of Spokane in 2009, the total population living below the poverty level was 18.6%. For families with children under 18, the rate was 23.5%. For a female householder with no husband present, 34.5% lived below the poverty level. This wage and salary gap impacts women of color and single moms the most, said Council Member Candace Mumm. In many cases, we are placing our women and children in financial jeopardy for lack of equal pay in our city, not necessarily because women are being paid less for the same work but because women are segregated into lower paying careers.Confidential exempt position salaries, those jobs in city government not governed by Civil Service, increased an average of almost 7% per year between 2007 and 2011, said Council member Stratton. These increases occurred primarily during an economic contraction and at a time when rank and file wages grew at less than half that rate. This may be the biggest disconnect at City Hall, where the highest pay employees received substantial pay increases while the lowest paid employees pay did not keep pace with the cost of living.
The Task Force will meet bimonthly through the end of the year, at which time it will provide the City Council with policy recommendations that remove implicit bias and other forms of exclusionary practices that inadvertently create gender and racially-based inequities in both employment and contracting. This issue needs to be addressed, because over time it can add up to serious money and have an impact on retirement income says Councilmember Stratton. Councilmembers Mumm, Waldref and I wont stop until all women in the City of Spokane get their 22 cents.
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