Unions help promote wage equity for women

Iowa currently ranks 37th among states when it comes to gender wage equity. This statistic is embarrassing to the great state of Iowa.

Gov. Terry Branstad wants the Cedar Rapids City Council to abandon the project labor agreement because he believes PLAs unfairly benefit union labor.

Women have proved difficulty in achieving equal pay without a union contract, and union women earn almost 34 percent more than their non-union women counterparts. Unions benefit women.

I am a woman who has worked in the construction trades for 30 years. Because of the unions, I have received the training I needed for a skilled trade and I am paid the same as the men. The few women working on the jobs for non-union contractors that I have met are generally doing the low skilled jobs, i.e., clean up, thereby earning less.

The PLA does not mean that all the work is required to be union labor as Iowa is a right-to-work state. The PLA could help ensure that if any women are hired by the non-union contractors, they are paid the prevailing wage.

Come on, Gov. Branstad, I'd like to see you do something to increase the pay for Iowa women.

JoAnn Greene

North Liberty