Supports the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Pay Act
Annually organizes the national observance of Equal Pay Day "to raise awareness about unfair pay for women and people of color in America"
Established in 1979,the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) describes itself as "a national membership coalition working to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity." This mission is founded on the organization's contention that such discrimination is pervasive in the American workplace.
NCPE serves as a national clearinghouse on information about pay equity, and its Executive Director Susan Bianchi-Sand makes frequent public presentations to draw attention to the earnings gap that exists between men and women. The organization also produces numerous fact sheets highlighting the data and perspectives it wishes to disseminate to the public.
"In 1963," says NCPE, "when the Equal Pay Act was signed, women made 59 cents on average for every dollar earned by men. … By 2002, women earned 77 cents to the dollar, a narrowing of the wage gap by less than half a cent a year. Over a working lifetime, this wage disparity costs the average American woman and her family an estimated $523,000 in lost wages, impacting Social Security benefits and pensions." NCPE attributes this wage gap to the fact that "many women and people of color are still segregated into a few low-paying occupations." The organization identifies two "important first steps to making pay equity a reality." These include:
"Passing the Fair Pay Act, sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, which would "address the persistent problem of paying lower wages in fields dominated by women and people of color." The Act would establish "comparable worth wage scales" to regulate worker wages.
In April of each year, NCPE organizes the national observance of Equal Pay Day "to raise awareness about unfair pay for women and people of color in America." This event, NCPE explains, "is observed in April to indicate how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year." (That is, women allegedly require nearly sixteen months to earn as much as their male counterparts earn in a twelve-month period.) In 2006, according to NCPE, Equal Pay Day fell on April 25. On that date, NCPE held a press conference to announce that it was launching "a new nationwide grassroots movement designed to close the wage gap once and for all." Speakers at the press conference included Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Tom Harkin, and Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, among others.
NCPE is chaired by the American Library Association's Michele Leber. The Treasurer is Connie Cordovilla, who also serves as Associate Director of the Human Rights and Community Relations Department of the American Federation of Teachers.
NCPE's Board of Directors includes several women who are prominent in feminist organizations and labor unions. Among these are: Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice-President of the AFL-CIO; Judy Applebaum, Vice President of the National Women's Law Center; Deborah Briceland-Betts, Executive Director of the Older Women's League; and Heidi Hartmann, President of the Institute for Women's Policy Research.
