Take Action
- Urge your representative to cosponsor the Women & Workforce Investment for Nontraditional Jobs (Women WIN Jobs) Act
- SIGN-On Letter: Paycheck Fairness Support Letter
- SIGN-ON LETTER: WOW letter to the President-elect on Economic Security for Women, their Families and Elders
- Help secure Cosponsors for the Measuring American Poverty Act of 2008!
- Collect and share with WOW names of orgs supporting/using the Self Sufficiency Standard and/or the Elder Economic Security Standard Index!
- Ensure the Economic Stimulus Benefits All Workers
Ask your Representative to Sign Letter to Secretary Solis to Increase Number of Women in Federal Construction Contracts (Aug. 28, 2009)
Representatives Pete Stark (D-CA) Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) are requesting other House members join them in signing a letter requesting the Department of Labor to recalculate the minimum number of federal contract work hours that must be completed by women on federally funded construction projects. The goal is enforced by the Office of Federal Contracting Compliance (OFCCP) in regulations implementing Executive Order 11246.
The OFCCP standard for women, which has remained at 6.9% of total work hours since 1980, was specifically designed to counter what the Department of Labor found to be “an almost total exclusion of women from employment” in the construction industry. However, since the standard has not been expanded in almost 30 years, it is a woefully inadequate reflection of the current availability of qualified women to perform jobs in non-traditional occupations (NTOs).
Benefits for women in NTOs, such as construction and the trades, include higher wages and more established career ladders. Industry apprenticeships also offer opportunities to “earn while you learn” – which represent an important path towards economic self-sufficiency for individuals who cannot afford to stop working in order to obtain further education.
With increased federal investments in infrastructure, recalculating the goal for female participation in OFCCP contracts is a small, but important measure in ensuring that the economic recovery benefits all workers.
Please contact your representative today and tell them to add their names to the letter. Call the Capitol Switchboard at 1-888-245-0215 or 202-224-3121 or obtain their email addresses here.
To sign the letter, your representative (not you) should contact Megan Curran in Congressman Stark’s office at megan.curran@mail.house.gov or Leticia Mederos in Congresswoman DeLauro’s office at Leticia.mederos@mail.house.gov.
To contact your member of Congress call the Capitol toll free number at:
1-888-245-0215 - Ask to be connected to one of your Senators or Representatives.
To stay informed, sign up for WOW email updates by emailing: policy@wowonline.org or call 202-464-1596.