Although I'm not otherwise a fan of them, I think unions come close to this as well. I'm an east coast liberal transplant living in exile in the midwest where EVERYONE is conservative. The subject of equal pay for women came up between myself and my office mate one day. He said he believed it was completely made up and that women are by and large paid the same. I asked him for examples to prove his position. He cited several blue collar positions that are abundant within a mile of our office such as forklift operators at company X, yard switcher at company Y and other logistics related tasks for various companies in our area. All of those are union positions at automotive related companies.
And I have to admit that from his perspective, he was correct. If you're doing a blue collar job in a union shop, your pay is dictated by the contract and gender does no generally enter into it.
I quickly pointed out to him that those jobs were the exception and not the rule, but I'm not sure it got through. He knows and believes what he's seen and blue collar union jobs are most of what he's seen all his life.
And I have to admit that from his perspective, he was correct. If you're doing a blue collar job in a union shop, your pay is dictated by the contract and gender does no generally enter into it.
I quickly pointed out to him that those jobs were the exception and not the rule, but I'm not sure it got through. He knows and believes what he's seen and blue collar union jobs are most of what he's seen all his life.
