“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged
by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
8/5/2022 – Los Angeles, CA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor – by unanimous vote – has passed an historic and urgent resolution calling on the Biden administration to “immediately ensure that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) be certified and published as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”
Federation President Ron Herrera said, “Every day the labor movement fights for pay equity, dignity and respect, and workplaces free of sexual harassment and discrimination. When the ERA is certified and becomes the law of the land, women workers – all workers – will have a powerful new force in that struggle for justice and equality.”
The ERA should have become law in 2020 when Virginia became the 38th state to ratify it, meeting the required threshold of three-quarters of the states. But the hard-fought victory and momentum for full equality for women was stopped dead in its tracks when the Trump administration refused to enact it. And while Democrats have publicly spoken out in favor of the ERA, they have yet to move forward on the necessary formal certification.
Kamala Lopez, founder and President of the equality advocacy organization, EQUAL MEANS EQUAL, stated, “We are thrilled that Los Angeles labor unions – representing hundreds of thousands of workers – have joined this urgent campaign to see that justice is no longer delayed or denied. Their leadership is decisive in ensuring that President Biden break Trump’s logjam and formally codify the Equal Rights Amendment as part of the US Constitution. The time is now!”
The Los Angeles Federation of Labor, affiliated with the national AFL-CIO, is the largest and most powerful regional labor body in the country. It represents a broad array of some 300 industrial, public sector and building trades unions with a combined membership of more than 800,000 workers.
EQUAL MEANS EQUAL is an organization committed to equal rights for all Americans regardless of sex and has fought since 2009 for the ratification, adoption and enforcement of the original Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution written by Alice Paul and colleagues in 1923.
For additional information, please contact:
Kamala Lopez kamala[at]equalmeansequal.com 323-954-9644
Claudia Magaña 213-381-5611 ext. 114 www.thelafed.org