Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/569858
college admissions, apprenticeship programs, the military, and other postsecondary opportunities that demand high school graduation. T h e gove r n o r h a s s i g n e d S B 7 2 5 by H a n c o c k , which suspends the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) requirement for 2015 and allows otherwise qualified seniors to graduate. Until this bill was enacted, these seniors were unable to receive their diplomas. The Legislature is still considering what to do with the exit exam, which is currently not aligned with the new Cal- ifornia standards. Originally, these students were planning to take the exam this summer, but the California Department of Edu- cation canceled the scheduled date in July. A companion measure, SB 172 by Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge), is pending in the Assembly. It would suspend the CAHSEE through the 2016 and 2017 school years. Protecting workers' legal rights The Legislature sent Gov. Brown a CTA-supported mea- sure that bars employers from forcing workers to waive their legal rights as a condition of employment. AB 465 by Assembly Member Roger Hernández (D-West Covina) prohibits employers from forcing workers to sign an arbitration agreement preventing them from exercising their options available under California labor law. "No worker should be forced to choose between a job and giving up core labor rights and procedures," states Hernández. "Existing labor laws are meaningless if workers are forced to sign away enforcement of those rights. That's exactly what is happening, and AB 465 prohibits this abuse." The bill does not prevent individuals or chapters from entering into agree- ments that include binding arbitration. Women's equality Women won the right to vote 95 years ago, and Women's Equality Day on Aug. 26 commemorates that victory. This year on that day, Gov. Brown signed a bill that makes it illegal to pay women less than men for doing the same job. The signing of SB 358 by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) gives California the strongest equal pay law in the United States. "Equal pay isn't just the right thing for women," says Jackson. "It's the right thing for our economy and for California. And it is long overdue. Families rely on women's income more than ever before. Because of the wage gap, our state and families are missing out on $33.6 billion a year." N E A R L Y A C E N T U R Y after women won the right to vote in the United States, unions are still battling to win full economic equality for women. A report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) at George Washington University finds that: • Women who are represented by labor unions earn 30.9 percent more than those working in nonunion jobs. • Women in labor unions earn 88.7 percent of the wages earned by males, a considerably larger percentage of male earnings than nonunion female workers. • Union representation provides a wage advantage to women of all major racial and ethnic groups. For instance, union-represented Hispanic women earn 42.1 percent more than their nonunion counterparts. But these statistics tell only part of the story. Read more about the Union Advantage at the Status of Women website (statusofwomen.data.org). Source: The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) at George Washington University Median weekly earnings for U.S. full-time wage and salary workers, 2014. Union Membership Pays Dividends for Women 37 V O LU M E 2 0 I S S U E 2 Advocacy E Q U A L I T Y . . . D I S T R I C T R E S E R V E S . . . W O R K E R S ' R I G H T S