| | Decades after laws were enacted barring discrimination in workplaces, schools and public settings, many U.S. citizens still are treated unfairly. Women still earn only 76 cents for every dollar paid to men, workplace discrimination persists on the basis of race and gender and no federal law prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The AFL-CIO recently asked the 2004 presidential candidates to detail the steps they see necessary to ensure a just society. |
George W. Bush
Candidate response not received.
For more information, visit www.georgewbush.com and www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/bushwatch/.
John Kerry
Civil and Human Rights
What steps will you take to ensure equal pay for working women?
In order to ensure equal pay for working women we need stronger laws and an administration dedicated to enforcing them. I have been speaking out for pay equity since I first ran for the Senate in 1984. I would work for passage of the pay equity act and use the fullest extent of executive power to order studies of wage differentials and eliminate them in government.
What steps will you take to End workplace discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, immigrant status, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity?
As President, I will make passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act one of my highest priorities. I have been a cosponsor of ENDA and voted for it when it came before the Senate in 1996.
Do you support or oppose legislation to provide permanent legal status to otherwise law-abiding undocumented workers and their families who work here and contribute to their communities?
Immigrants add more than ten billion each year to the American economy. And this doesn't even count the contributions of immigrant-owned business. We need the energy and enterprise of immigrants - and that means we need root and branch reform of our nation's immigration policy - not just controls on the future flow of immigrants, but a program of earned legalization for undocumented workers who are already here.
Those who have been in the United States for a significant amount of time, who have held a job, and who can pass a background check should be eligible to earn full citizenship. This makes sense for the economy; it is not only fair to people who have worked long and hard and paid their taxes - it is the only way to strengthen our homeland security by bringing undocumented workers out of the shadows and into the light of greater accountability.
