WOMEN WORKERS

WHEREAS, discrimination against women workers has not been eliminated:

RESOLVED, that the AFT adopt the following statement as its own position.

The AFT reaffirms its commitment to the elimination of all discrimination against women and calls for aggressive action to achieve this goal. We stand with the Coalition of Labor Union Women, women's organizations outside the labor movement, civil rights groups, all working to change laws, policies, institutions, and attitudes to bring about equity and justice for all. Passage of a federal Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution remains an AFT goal.

We urge women trade unionists to participate in all union activities and in the Coalition of Labor Union Women.

If our society is to break down the barriers of discrimination against women, it is essential to pursue affirmative action, equal employment, pay equity, child care, education and training and remove all vestiges of sexual harassment and discrimination in insurances and pensions.

The principle that wages should be determined by the value of the work performed and not by the race, sex, religion, or national origin of the worker is stated in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as amended. The AFT urges its affiliates to fight against wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity, including equal pay for work of comparable worth, through collective bargaining, legislation and legal action.

At the federal level there is still much-needed legislation to be passed as part of a total package to promote and achieve women's rights, including: prohibiting discrimination in insurance and pensions; improving the protection of women under Social Security; providing more complete protection for women in private and federal civil service pension plans; maintaining and improving the existing tax credit for child care; improving child support enforcement; increasing funding for Title XX day care service and for the Work Incentive Program as supportive measures to enable poor women to become self-supporting; restoring funding to other social programs including AFDC, food stamps, and Medicaid where the Reagan ad­ministration cuts have severely harmed women.