Equal Pay Act Quotes

Our members are not so much concerned with the prospective legislative mandate to pay women on an equal basis with men as they are with (1) the need for a Federal statute and (2) the consequences of a blank check to be given to the Secretary of Labor to engage in ‘fishing expeditions,’ ultimately resulting in harassing retailers and, in some cases, punitive action.

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Statement of the American Retail Federation, at the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare (Subcommittee on Labor).
357708/01/1962 | Full Details | Law(s): Equal Pay Act

[The proposed ‘comparable’ work standard is] so general and so vague as to give an administrator a grant of power which could destroy the sound wage structure which many industrial companies have worked for years to perfect.

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The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) expresses their opposition to some of the initial Equal Pay Act’s wording.
356206/14/1962 | Full Details | Law(s): Equal Pay Act

There is little difference between men and women as regards their satisfactory performance in industry. Sound employment and personnel practices are applicable to both men and women are applicable to both men and women and no emphasis should be placed on any distinction between them as workers.

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Statement of the National Association of Manufacturers at the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare (Subcommittee on Labor). Aug 1, 1962.
04/24/1962 | Full Details | Law(s): Equal Pay Act

[W]e feel that in a free competitive economy, the task of equal pay to women workers is properly within the province of collective bargaining and not of police action by the government.

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George Meaney, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
06/06/1953 | Full Details | Law(s): Equal Pay Act

[Joining unions, not] perpetuat[ing] a principal based upon the assumption that women are wards of the state [is the best way to reduce inequality]…[But gender inequality is] deeply rooted in our civilization [and what inequality cannot be dealt with through collective bargaining can only be dealt with through] evolutionary processes.

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William Cushing, legislative representative of the AFL.
04/24/1951 | Full Details | Law(s): Equal Pay Act

[The proposal would] involve undue interference in the work relationship…interfere with efficient management, and prove disruptive to good relations between employer and employees.

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National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) representative Leo Teplow, Testimony, House Committee on Education and Labor.
356005/18/1950 | Full Details | Law(s): Equal Pay Act

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