It’s about honoring America’s workers. And, what better way to honor workers and their families than to guarantee equal pay for equal work?

Women in the U.S. make only 77 cents, on average, for every dollar their male counterparts earn.

Now more than ever, every dollar counts.

Women are not worth less – help us by asking Senators Snowe and Collins to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would close loopholes in the Equal Pay Act and prohibit penalties against workers who share salary information in order to find out if they are being fairly paid.

Time is of the essence: the House already passed the bill, and we now need swift action from the Senate! The votes of Maine Senators Snowe and Collins are critical.

Join us in telling our Senators that every day is Labor Day for Maine women!

Thanks for your action!

An additional $16 billion would extend for six months increased Medicaid payments to the states. That would free money for states to meet other budget priorities, including keeping more than 150,000 police officers and other public workers on the payroll.

Some three-fifths of states have already factored in the federal money in drawing up their budgets for the current fiscal year. The National Governors Association, in a letter to congressional leaders, said the states’ estimated budget shortfall for the 2010-12 period is $116 billion, and the extended Medicaid payments are “the best way to help states bridge the gap between their worst fiscal year and the beginning of recovery.”

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Word from Portia Wu , Vice President at the National Partnership for Women and Families, from  inside the event was that Lilly Ledbetter was star of the show.  No surprise there! Lilly headlined an event here in March with her story about fighting pay discrimination at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.

Here’s hoping she continues to pound the pavement – I mean the halls of the U.S. Senate office buildings. Meantime we’re going to do all we can in Maine to get this bill passed once and for all. As the V.P. says: “Step Up, Man!”

“Maine will set the pace nationally for replacing toxic flame retardants with truly safer alternatives,” said Michael Belliveau, executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center. “We applaud the pallet company iGPS for its commitment to achieve a rapid phase out of this toxic flame retardant chemical.”

The Maine legislation reflects a negotiated agreement between the Speaker and iGPS, the company that pioneered the use of lightweight, high tech plastic pallets that have rapidly gained market share against traditional wood pallets, and environmental public health advocates, including Environmental Health Strategy Center, Natural Resources Council of Maine and the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine.

The Maine law will set the terms for the company’s replacement of Deca nationwide. Under the Maine bill:

• The company will fund an independent alternatives assessment study at a cost of up to $250,000, to be managed by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP);

• If the DEP determines that safer alternatives are likely to exist based on the study results, then the use of decaBDE in pallets must be ended early – within 12 months and no later than January 1, 2012;

• The final phase out deadline may be extended only if more time is needed by the company to complete fire safety or performance testing or modify the manufacturing process, but the use of Deca in new pallets must end by January 1, 2013; and

• The replacements for DecaBDE must be safer alternatives – the Maine law bans the use of other brominated or chlorinated flame retardants or other persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals as substitutes for Deca.

The Maine bill will require further votes before becoming law, but with unanimous support in Committee and the support of the plastic pallet company affected and Maine Governor John Baldacci, final passage of the legislation in the next few weeks is virtually assured.

The legislation, LD 1568, An Act to Clarify Maine’s Phase-Out of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs), builds on laws previously passed in Maine in 2004 to ban the Penta and Octa PBDE flame retardants and in 2007 to ban Deca in televisions, computers, mattresses and textiles. Several other states have begun to phase out PBDEs in products including Washington, Vermont, Oregon and California. Maine Speaker Pingree’s mother, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree has introduced HR 4394, the Deca Elimination and Control Act, to phase out deca in all uses nationwide. In December 2009, three manufacturers of Deca announced a voluntary agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to end production of Deca for most uses before January 1, 2014. The national voluntary agreement, however, does not restrict specific product uses, would not affect the use of Deca in products imported into the United States, is not enforceable and does not ensure that safer alternatives will replace Deca.

Decabrominated diphenyl ether (DecaBDE) is a high volume, general purpose flame retardant chemicals that’s been added to plastics and synthetic fibers to slow the spread of flames in the event of a fire. Deca is a PBT – persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals. It is long-lived in the environment, except when exposed to sunlight which breaks it down into more toxic byproducts. Deca and its toxic byproducts build up to higher levels in the food web, including human breast milk, and the environment. The PBDEs including Deca have been shown to damage the growing brain of newborn animals causing hyperactivity, learning disabilities and impulsive behavior. These chemicals also wreak havoc with thyroid hormones, which are essential to normal brain development and metabolism. Deca and other PBDEs threaten children’s health.”

Now, the debate moves to the Senate. Stay tuned….

No one knows better about how the health care system is failing than the women-young and old-who met with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius today in South Portland. The Maine Women’s Lobby and AARP brought together the group of women leaders to discuss why women’s health issues are critical in the national health care reform debate. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree also participated, providing Maine women a chance to tell their stories about how health care issues affect them and their families and why reform must happen this year. Read more…

Congresswoman Pingree, Sarah Standiford, Nancy Kelleher with Secretary Sebelius

Maine Women Leaders Join the Discussion

Check out some of the press from the event:

New York Times and photo

CBS news blog

WGME (video)

WMTW (video)

MPBN

WCSH (video)

Sun Journal

Bangor Daily News

Press Herald

Kennebec Journal

Associate Press