Use NOW’s Capwiz interactive political page to send messages to your elected officials:
(http://capwiz.com/lwv/state/main/?lvl=L&azip=14215&state=NY&view=myofficials)

EQUAL PAY ACT-ions
Added 6/12/10

Make our voices heard for equal pay!

Background on the 3 New York State bills and pay equity. More info can be found in NYWA's EPC-NYC Pay Equity Guide and Toolkit.

1. A6712/S5271 - provides that people who work for NY State in job titles where women and people of color predominate receive equal pay for job titles of equal value (Sponsor: Senator Velmanette Montgomery) The Assembly passed 3 pay equity bills again this year. Due to current fiscal constraints, the Coalition is pushing this bill which will have a better chance of being signed into law because it will have little or zero financial impact to the State.

2. S1799 - Minority and Women Business Enterprises (MWBE's) would direct NYS to award more contracts to certified minority and women business enterprises [by enlarging the number of state agencies covered; including the use of MWBEs in financial and professional services in state contracts; specifying the diversity practices used to procure vendors; clarifying state agency reporting requirements; and establishing a "public authorities procurement council" composed of senior leaders from state agencies and representatives of the private sector.]

3. Free Speech on Wages [no bill number YET] We are advocating for stronger laws to protect a worker's right to share salary information without fear of being fired or reprimanded for disclosing information or asking about pay. This would have helped Lily Ledbetter! The vast majority of workers are employed in the private sector where salaries can be kept secret and employees may be fired for sharing salary information. Without salary information, it is impossible for employees to know whether they are being paid fairly.

For more information, download the email from the Equal Pay Coalition/New York Women's Agenda.

Call on State Senator Carl Kruger
to change his position on same–sex marriage

Senator Kruger was the only Democrat in the State Senate from Brooklyn to vote against legalizing same-sex marriage in NYS. In a local newspaper article he claimed that although this may not be his personal view he must represent the conservative views of his constituency.

This is nonsense. The voting record of the 27th senatorial district is not predominantly conservative. If it was it would have elected Republican legislators. Kruger is currying favor with the religious fundamentalists, who do not represent the majority of our district. Although he runs on the Democratic line, he did not endorse Hillary Clinton when she ran for the Senate against Rick Lazio, nor did he endorse then Manhattan borough President Ruth Messinger when she ran for mayor against Rudy Giuliani.

Please call his office, 718-743-8610, or even better send a written letter. Below is a sample letter you may use (click the image on the right to download the letter in Word format). It’s important that you include your home address.

NYS Senator Carl Kruger
2201 Avenue U
Brooklyn, NY 11229

Dear Senator Kruger,

As a NYS Senator who runs as a Democrat, I assumed that you endorse the Democratic Party’s position of ensuring the civil rights of the citizens of NY State. However, you are the only Democrat from Brooklyn who voted not to support the civil rights of same-sex couples by denying them their equal right to a civil marriage in NY State.

It is distressing to me that you ally yourself time and again in the Senate with Republicans and the most regressive members of the Democratic Party. This is not bi-partisanship nor is it independent voting. Rather, you betray the Democratic voters of your District by misrepresenting your political allegiances.

I hope that when this legislation is re-introduced in the Senate in the coming session that you will reconsider your political alliances and recognize that the civil right of loving couples who wish to commit their lives together in civil marriage is the same regardless of gender.