Tag Archives: white people

Tell the Labor Department to support equal pay ~ a repost


BudgetEconomyTell the Labor Department to support equal pay

Did you know that some employers tell their workers that they cannot talk about their wages? Or that some workers could be punished for having a conversation with a co-worker about their paychecks?

For too many, that’s the truth. More than 6 in 10 private-sector workers say their employer either bars or discourages them from sharing information about their pay.

This unfair practice allows companies to keep wage discrepancies hidden. It also contributes to discrimination in the workplace. And that’s bad news for our work on equal pay.

But there’s good news, too: The Department of Labor is working on a plan to end these salary gag rules. Here’s your chance to tell it you support these efforts.

Tell the Department of Labor you support
this equal pay rule
Send a comment to the Department of Labor telling it that workersshould not be punished for talking about their pay.Take Action

If workers could talk about their wages openly and without fear, they could find out if they’re being paid less and determine if the discrepancy is due to discrimination based on their gender, race, or ethnicity.

And of course, women are hit hardest by wage discrepancies. Overall, women make just 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. African American women face a larger gap when their wages are compared to white men, making just 64 cents on the dollar. And Latinas make only 56 cents compared to white men.

Plus, the proposed rule wouldn’t just prohibit retaliation against workers who discuss their pay. It would also require contractors to give employees clear information about how they’re protected from retaliation for discussing pay.

Help us fight for equal pay for women today. Send a comment to the Department of Labor.

Thank you for taking action.

Sincerely,
Fatima Goss Graves
Vice President for Education and Employment
National Women’s Law Center

Act Now: Demand an end to deforestation at Ralph Lauren


Rainforest Action Network
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This past September, we launched the Out of Fashion campaign, urging fifteen major fashion brands to make sure that their fabrics don’t contain forest destruction and human rights abuses. For years, this controversy had gone unnoticed — but not any more!

Thousands of you signed the petition, stickered controversial products and sent tweets during Fashion Week. While some brands are starting to respond, some of the worst companies have not taken action.

As of today, we’re focusing on the most famous, and most destructive, laggard in the industry: Ralph Lauren.

Ralph Lauren is an iconic brand with a huge reach. It has the power to eliminate controversial fiber and suppliers, such as Sateri and Royal Golden Eagle Group. And if Ralph Lauren steps up, other brands will follow.

We are going to be building this campaign over the next few months, but today, we have a super-quick action for you to take: email Ralph Lauren and ask the company to protect forests and human rights by tracing its supply chain, eliminating the worst actors, and adopting a policy. It only takes a moment and together, we can make our voices heard.

Thank you so much for all you do.

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For the forests,

Christy Tennery-Spalding

http://www.ran.org/

This elephant has been alone for 28 years


Petitioning Chairman CDA, Marc, CEO, Chris, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

Help free Kaavan the elephant from 28 years of solitary confinement

Petition by Samar Khan
Fremont, California
280,960
Supporters

From Paper Promises to Real Change: Saving Indonesia’s Rainforests


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two years since Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) abruptly changed course, silenced its bulldozers and announced a groundbreaking Forest Conservation Policy. For decades, the Indonesian logging giant had been one of the globe’s most notorious threats to rainforests and forest communities – taking over and mowing down tens of thousands of acres a year to produce wood pulp for books, copy paper, tissue and packaging.

But after steady years of nonstop pressure from RAN and other groups, we achieved one of the most dramatic shifts in corporate policy ever. APP’s Forest Conservation Policy has the potential to impact millions of acres of some of the most culturally and biologically diverse landscapes in the world — and it would never have happened without the steadfast perseverance of supporters like you.

So THANK YOU once again!

But at Rainforest Action Network, we know that promises, especially of the corporate variety, can be broken.

So over the past two years, we have remained vigilant and active behind the scenes, working hard to turn paper promises into real change on the ground. Our goal is not a corporate PR moment, but real positive impact on the lives of local communities in Indonesia, and the protection of crucial habitat for endangered wildlife like the Sumatran tiger, elephant and orangutan. Working with Indonesian and other allies, our efforts have resulted in an improved process for conflict resolution with local communities, a commitment to effectively restore over two million acres of degraded forests, and we are still fighting for improvements and greater transparency throughout APP’s implementation process.

Just last month, RAN released an in-depth report on APP’s progress. Along with 10 allied organizations – including 9 based in Indonesia – this on-the-ground research consulted 17 Indonesian communities directly impacted by APP – and the results reveal significant policy implementation problems. Our report offers detailed recommendations for how APP can properly address hundreds of unresolved land conflicts remaining in its concessions, Just today the company has released an action plan outlining its response to our concerns and a third party performance evaluation of APP that we helped secure.

While we will continue to hold APP accountable, RAN also directly supports frontline communities living with the historic impact of APP’s deforestation. Our Protect-an-Acre program provides crucial grants that go directly to the local organizations and community groups working on these issues – groups like Yayasan Wahana Bumi Hijau (WBH) which recently supported villagers to successfully negotiate an agreement with APP to return  24,000 acres of their traditional lands  to community stewardship. This story is just one of many, many more – please visit the Protect an Acre site to learn more and to pledge your support directly to the frontline communities that need it most.

Thank you for making this possible – and please help us keep up the pressure in 2015 and beyond.

Giving Poachers the boot … Saving our wildlife


The Black Mambas, a Mostly Female Anti-Poaching Force, Have Won a Top U.N. Environmental Award