Joe The Plumber Got to Ask His Question, Now it's Sarah
the Plumber's turn

Chicago Women in Trades Sweet

Sixteen Questions :

Sarah the Plumber, Teresa the Tinknocker,  Elsie the
Electrician, Barb the Bricklayer, Mei the Machinist,
and Carmen the Carpenter have yet to hear much about
the issues that matter most to them.  Times are tough
for all construction workers, but these tradeswomen
want to know what will it take to crack through the
concrete floor to gain and maintain secure high-wage,
high skill jobs. Here's their top sixteen list of
questions for the candidates:

   1. How can women who left TANF (Temporary Assistance
   to Needy Families- also known as welfare) to take
   personal responsibility for themselves and their
   families, (and found themselves in jobs that paid
   minimum wage with no benefits), gain access to
   training and job opportunities that provide them
   with the wages and security to achieve the American
   dream?

   2. What will be done about providing working mothers
   (and fathers) with affordable, quality, accessible
   childcare during our nontraditional work hours?

   3. What are your plans for ensuring that working
   women (or any person) who has/adopts/ or cares for
   children, the sick and the elderly can get paid
   family and medical leave like almost all of the
   other major industrial nations?

   4. When will women not have to work four extra
   months to have an annual salary equal to men's
   wages?

   5. If we get into the "old boys network" will there
   be a safety net to ensure national health care? Can
   this cover our spouses/domestic partners and
   children as well?

   6. When exactly does the statute of limitations run
   out on pay equity? Is pay equity a trial lawyer's
   dream, or a simple woman's hope for (spare) change
   to pay the babysitter?

   7. How much energy do women have to expend before we
   get (financial) independence (or at least a 23%
   discount on our bills to reflect the wage
   disparity)?

   8. Do we have to kill a moose to demonstrate we can
   handle tools or provide leadership on the job?

   9. How many bridges (or highways and high-rises) do
   tradeswomen have to build to stop being seen as
   'just' homemakers and breakground into male-
   dominated jobs?

   10. When can we anticipate that the free market and
   voluntary corporate efforts will level the playing
   field for women and people of color? When can we
   expect reparations for the disparity created by race
   and gender discrimination? Is this covered in the
   bailout bill (TARP) under executive compensation?

   11. Can we expect the government to actually enforce
   safety regulations on the jobsite and ensure that
   personal protective equipment like hardhats, safety
   belts, gloves actually fit a woman's physique?

   12. Is the bailout (rescue-recovery plan?) a bridge
   to economic equity for working women, (and people of
   color and men), and exactly where does it go?

   13. Is a pink hardhat safer than a bonnet to protect
   us from the falling dollar and crashing stock
   markets?

   14. How much straight talk will it take before gays
   and lesbians can move from being just "tolerated" to
   full equality in our work, civic, military, family,
   and love lives?

   15. If we change "business as usual in the beltway",
   how many documents will a worker need to be treated
   fairly and equally for day's labor and to share the
   wealth they help to create?

   16. How many "hands across the aisle" will it take
   to create a bi-partisan bill to rescue women from
   second-class citizenship, low wages, and
   discrimination on the job? Can poor women be
   appointed to fill all the positions on the oversight
   board to assure compliance? Can full childcare be
   provided at all meetings?

Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT) is a nonprofit
organization committed to improving women's economic
equity by increasing the number of women working in
well-paid, skilled trade jobs traditionally held by
men. For more information, visit
www.chicagowomenintrades.org.

In the interests of full disclosure, CWIT is a
community organization that formerly received funding
from the Woods Charitable Fund and has associated with
ACORN in the past and supports their campaigns for
living wages and poverty reduction. All the women named
above are pseudonyms to protect the identities and jobs
of real tradeswomen who go to work everyday and come to
CWIT with the above concerns.

Lauren Sugerman Executive Director Chicago Women in
Trades

www.chicagowomenintrades.org

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