Posted on 04/12/2014 7:56:57 AM PDT by cripplecreek
LANSING, MI – The debate on how to make sure men and women are paid the same was highlighted in Michigan this week when President Barack Obama called out GOP Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land over equal pay and comments used in a web video. The ad
Speaking to Reporters in Houston on Thursday, Obama mentioned Land, not by name but as a Republican running for Senate in Michigan.
“Very rarely do you meet people who make the choice to be paid less for doing the same job,” Obama said, according to poll reports.
Obama's statements were based on a video produced by the Democratic-leaning PAC American Bridge 21st Century. It has a clip of Land appearing to not support equal pay and saying that women are “more interested in flexibility in a job than pay.”
The video and remarks come in a week where Obama and Democrats have focused on equal pay for women. The President signed two executive orders that attempt to narrow gender gap wages and Democrats in the Senate introduced legislation that would require employers to be more transparent about wages. The bill was blocked by Republicans.
Land’s statement, however, is 13 seconds out of a 23 minute speech Land gave in 2010 to the Bloomfield Township Senior Women’s Club. Leading up to the quote used in the video, Land talked about how, as Kent County clerk, she negotiated with the UAW for her employees to have more flexible hours rather than just pay raises. Here’s more of what Land said. The quote included in the video is in bold and starts in the video at around the
“I made a lot of changes with my employees. I had a union, the UAW. I had majority women, in the deeds office also and the courts office, about 85 percent of my employees were women. Well the UAW, there a little male organization, have you ever noticed that, yeah, a little heavy on that. And of course, they always negotiated for money, for raises. Well we all like to be paid more and that’s great but the reality is that women have a different lifestyle. They have kids, they have to take them to get dentist appointments, doctors appointments all those kinds of things and they’re more interested in flexibility in a job than pay. Although pay is important too. So we went out and fought those issues for them and came up with a lot better days. We came up with personal days rather than sick days. For example, they were leaving all day because they had to go home and take their child to an appointment, and I said why don’t they leave at three o’clock?”
Land spokeswoman Heather Swift said in a statement Thursday that the former Secretary of State supports the Equal Pay Act and “is a strong advocate for women in the workplace and has always fought hard to make the workplace a more level playing field by advocating for things like flexible time, management tracks for women, and higher salaries.”
However, Swift did not say if Land would vote for the bill introduced in the Senate, which would expand the Equal Pay Act.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, who is running for Senate, would have voted for the bill, according to his campaign.
Another Democrat, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, took issue with the notion that women have different lifestyles than men.
“This whole thing that women don’t care about pay: Excuse me?” Stabenow said during a press call with reporters on Thursday. “Flex time won’t pay for groceries. Flex time doesn’t pay for gas in your car. And when I look at my son versus my daughter, they both love their children and would love to pick them up after school. That doesn’t mean my daughter should be paid less because she wants to pick her kids up after school like my son does.”
The race to replace retiring U.S. Sen Carl Levin has been close, according to polling. Several national interest groups have been pouring money and advertising into Michigan as Republicans are trying to pick up an open Senate seat and Democrats are try to maintain a majority.
Just got me wondering if there are any other groups left that Obama has failed to drive a wedge between yet?
Definitely a divider - not a uniter.
I remember when Dee Dee Meyers left the Clinton stable and Mike McCury (sp?) was hired for about 30K more........LOL!
Mac vs PC.
I hadn’t heard that. The Dems really could get hammered this year. I don’t know how much of a difference it will make, but the media whining will be fun.
I’m tried of hearing about the non-issue of “equal pay”. It’s a fallacy.
Until that boy Obama and his yesman Petershead start paying their women equal pay, then need to sit down and shut their effing mouths.
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