Equal Pay

[Gregory Matthews]

On April 7, 1938, Florence St. John, on behalf of herself and 29 other women filed a lawsuit against General Motors Demanding equal pay for equal work.  The women were paid 76 cents per hour, while the men were paid 97 cents per hour.  Thus began a battle that lasted for years.  The case went to trial on June 2, 1941 and on May 29, 1942 it was decided in favor of the women.  GM appealed and in a final decision on January 2, 1945 the women were awarded $55,690.00. [NOTE:  Thanks to an article by Martin J. Kernan, in the October 2022 issue of Smithsonian beginning on page 16.}  We should not forget that contribution made to us today by those who have gone before us.  In this respect, we SDAs should not forget the contribution made by Marykaye Silver and Lorna Tobler.  See the following for that.

https://openjurist.org/535/f2d/1182/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-pacific-press-publishing-association

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/482/1291/2095517/

[phkrause]

I remember that, they had a big discussion on that at Atlantic Union College! The workers at the AUC Press, and some of the other businesses were not invited to that!!