Candidates on Workplace Inequality

In the October 16, 2012 President Obama and Mitt Romney Town Hall debate with CNN’s Candy Crowley the fourth question was – in what new ways do you intend to rectify the inequalities in the work place, specifically women making less. Obama responded with the first bill he signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and it’s more than an issue for women, it’s about families as more and more woman are becoming the bread winner; he’ll continue to fight against discrimination and getting people trained for jobs.

Romney said – he reached out to women’s groups to find women for jobs in his cabinet in Massachusetts (MA) and they brought him binders full; he was proud that a survey found more women in his cabinet and senior staff than in other states; he learned with women on the work force they needed to have a flexible staff and he’ll promote an economy that does the same. Obama responded - when Romney’s campaign was asked about his supporting the Ledbetter Act that they said they’d get back to him, this doesn’t show support and these aren’t the only issues facing women; health care, Planned Parenthood and the child care credit are financial issues that assist women in earning a living and they are family issues.

I’m not getting into Romney’s comments about binders full of women. What bothers me more is that flexible work schedules have been around since the 1990s; there was a Labor-Management Relations Guidance Bulletin "Negotiating Flexible and Compressed Work Schedules" published in July 1995 and in 2003 the Sloan Foundation launched the National Initiative on Workplace Flexibility a collaborative effort designed to make workplace flexibility a standard of the American workplace. Romney became the MA Governor in 2003 and by his own admittance he was just learning about something that had been around for 8 years or more. Romney’s failure to provide an immediate stand on the Ledbetter Act of 3+ years ago and his failure to be pro-active on this issue until it became a national standard makes me wonder if this is just another etch-a-sketch or flip-flop moment. By the way, on October 19 the Salt Lake Tribune, the largest Mormon owned newspaper, said it is supporting Obama; they called Romney the Party’s shape shifting nominee.