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American Constitution President To Las Vegas Women: Unions Are A Good Thing

Culinary Union members Emilia Cabrera (left) and Dallany Santos canvass in Las Vegas for the union's get-out-the-vote effort during President Obama's re-election campaign.
Liz Halloran/NPR

Culinary Union members Emilia Cabrera (left) and Dallany Santos canvass in Las Vegas for the union's get-out-the-vote effort during President Obama's re-election campaign.

In her new book, "Under the Bus: How Working Women Are Being Run Over," author Caroline Fredrickson outlines how anti-discrimination laws leave outmany women in the workplace. 

Many may have heard of the "lean in" movement, started by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, but according to Fredrickson, this kind of rhetoric doesn't work for everyone, particular women of color. 

"What sort of struck me at the time was that was a conversation that was limited to a very, very small, select group of women," Fredrickson said. "Primarily, white women, professional women, who were really well off."

She said that focus left out the majority of women who really don't have the option to 'opt out,' that is leave the workforce all together to stay at home with their families or 'lean in,' which is taking it upon themselves to push for better pay or a promotion.

"For women, who are in these low-wage jobs particularly, it is very difficult to lean in because they have no leverage," Fredrickson said.

Much of it has to do simply with language.

By not actually calling someone an employee, and using other verbiage such as independent contractor, employers can skirt around providing a worker with benefits and sick time off, and many industries dominated by women use such loopholes.

Fredrickson pointed to the growing home health aid industry as an example of that. The industry is dominated by women and many of those women were not paid the minimum wage or overtime because they were categorized as domestic worker.

"It shocked me, but I hope it shocks your listeners to think, that these workers didn't get that and so they could be worked 80 hours a week, make less than the minimum wage and never get a dime of overtime," Fredrickson said.  

She said a new regulation pushed by the Obama Administration hopes to close that loophole for those workers. 

The advantage for Las Vegas women in the workforce, Fredrickson said, is the fact that the city is so heavily unionized.  

"Women do far better in a union environment than they do in a non-union environment," she said. "Unions have done a lot to erase the wage gap, particularly in public employment." 

Women on average in Las Vegas make 87 cents to every dollar earned by men. Although it's higher than the national average of 77 cents to the dollar, the average for black and Hispanic women is even lower, at 69 and 57 cents respectively.

Caroline Fredrickson, author, "Under the Bus: How Working Women Are Being Run Over" 

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Prior to taking on the role of Broadcast Operations Manager in January 2021, Rachel was the senior producer of KNPR's State of Nevada program for 6 years. She helped compile newscasts and provided coverage for and about the people of Southern Nevada, as well as major events such as the October 1 shooting on the Las Vegas strip, protests of racial injustice, elections and more. Rachel graduated with a bachelor's degree of journalism and mass communications from New Mexico State University.