Legal Activists of Color: Working African-American Women Seek Strengthened Equal-Pay, Discrimination & Unfair Treatment Laws

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Detroit Free Press

www.freep.com

Michigan business

Working women worried

Health care, pay levels top concerns

August 8, 2006

BY MARGARITA BAUZA

FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Working women's woes

Working women are most worried about:

Health care costs rising and insurance not covering expenses

Pay not keeping up with the cost of living

Not having retirement benefits

Higher education being too costly

White-collar and blue-collar jobs going overseas

Getting or keeping a job that pays well and provides benefits

Number of women who said their company offered the following:

Paid vacation: 76%

Paid sick leave: 71%

Prescription drug coverage: 67%

Pension, retirement benefits: 67%

Affordable health insurance: 61%

Equal pay for equal work: 44%

Control over work hours: 41%

Paid family medical leave: 37%

Child care: 4%

Other key findings:

Nearly 90% of working women are very worried and concerned about the future of young people going into the workforce.

Women continue to face inequality and injustice in the workplace and feel they are treated as second-class.

For most women, opting out of work is not an option. They work to pay the bills and provide health care for their families but feel they're penalized for juggling work and family.

About the survey:

23,500 working women completed the survey online. Of those, 22,142 responses were received between June 7 and Aug. 2 and were used in this analysis.

Sources: "Ask a Working Woman" survey 2006, AFL-CIO and Working America

Working women say they're most worried about rising health care costs, their pay keeping up with the cost of living and dwindling retirement benefits, a study released Monday by the AFL-CIO shows.

"What we heard was a sense of desperation about how hard it is to keep things together," said Karen Nussbaum, director of Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO that advocates for affordable health care, retirement benefits and other job-related issues for union and nonunion workers.

"Working women are telling us 'we're in trouble,' " Nussbaum added. "They're one illness way from losing their house and their health insurance."

The report showed that:

Affordable medical coverage tops the list of concerns for working women, with 97% of them saying that they're nervous about the rising expense of quality health care.

95% of respondents said they are concerned about their pay staying in synch with the cost of living.

88% of working women cited retirement as a major worry.

Higher education costs, jobs going overseas and employment benefits are other key issues among working women.

The AFL-CIO conducted the first Ask a Working Woman survey in 1997. This year's survey of more than 22,000 women -- two-thirds salaried and one-third union -- differs from past years in the sense that women are more worried about basic economic needs, Nussbaum said.

Past surveys showed women were most concerned about the equality of pay between men and women. In 2004, affordable health care first surfaced as women's top concern.

The survey's results resonated with local women facing similar issues.

Stephanie Givinsky, a 32-year-old teacher who lives with her parents in Warren, is most worried about her pay keeping up with living expenses.

"My big worry is that if I don't become part of a two-income family, I'll never be able to buy a house and that if I don't buy a house I'll be homeless when I'm old."

The survey also showed concern for corporate accountability, skyrocketing CEO pay and the retirement benefits of workers whose companies file for bankruptcy. The report showed that 48% of women want to limit CEO pay when workers are being laid off or losing benefits.

"We've had a number of notable bankruptcies in the press, record low interest rates and the stock market has not been performing as it did in the '90s," said Leslie Murphy, group managing partner at the Southfield accounting firm Plante & Moran. Those events have led to more Americans losing their pensions partially or completely, she said.

Corporate accountability is one of Claire Sheldon's top concerns.

"In general, you expect companies to be ethical especially when you have a pensioned workforce," said the 30-year-old Livonia resident who works at an aluminum manufacturer in Novi. "It's hard to see the elderly especially left hanging dry."

Contact MARGARITA BAUZA at 313-222-6823 or mbauza@freepress.com.

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