FOR LOCAL/STATE/REGIONAL GROUPS LAUNCHING WAGE CLUBS

[INSERT ORGANIZATIONAL LOGO OR USE WAGE LOGO]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [NAME OF CONTACT]
April 25, 2006
Contact Email/phone


More than four decades after the passage of the 1963 Equal Pay Act according to the 2005 Census data, full-time female workers in the United States still earn only 77 cents for every dollar a full-time male worker makes.

On National Equal Pay Day April 25th 2006, [Name of Organization] announced that they have joined in a new national collaborative grassroots strategy being rolled out today at a press conference in Washington DC by leading women’s rights groups to close the wage gap.

“This Equal Pay Day, we are announcing that women will not wait another 40 years for equal pay,” explained [Name of Local Organizational Leader/WAGE Club Organizer]. “Over a lifetime this wage gap adds up to astonishing financial losses for women. A high school graduate loses $700,000. A college graduate loses $1.2 million. A professional school graduate loses $2 million. These losses are personal and devastating.”

The WAGE Project, a new national non-profit dedicated to closing the wage gap within 10 years through a nationwide collaborative grassroots campaign, is spearheading a collaborative effort to launch WAGE Clubs – groups of women who come together to talk about the wage gap, and obtain the information support and tools they need to get even at work.

Dr. Evelyn Murphy, economist, former Lt. Governor of Massachusetts and author of the new book Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It, founded The WAGE Project. “This movement is taking off because people know that the only way women will get what they deserve at work is if they take action,” explained Murphy

“The [NAME of Organization/Group] is proud to be on the forefront of this movement,” stated [Name of Organizational Leader]. “To close the gap, the first step is for women to begin to talk about workplace discrimination and the hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars that it costs them over their lifetimes. WAGE Clubs are places where women in [City/State/Community] come together to talk about the wage gap and to obtain the tools, support and momentum they need to get even at work.”

In just the last two months, WAGE clubs have formed in cities throughout the country.

This innovative collaborative model of grassroots organizing is being rolled out to the national press today at a Press Conference in Washington DC by the National Committee on Pay Equity, a coalition of organizations working to eliminate wage discrimination. Many of the nation’s leading women’s groups including the YWCA, BPW, AAUW, and the Feminist Majority Foundation are supporting this project.

For more information about WAGE Clubs in [Name of City] Contact [Local Contact]. For information about the WAGE Project WAGE clubs check out www.wageproject.org.

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