AFSCME Oral History Transcript; Joan Goddard (President of Local 101), interviewed by Johanna Russ

Posted April 15th, 2014 by mcourtney
in
Extent: 
178.49 KB
Date: 
2009-07-07
Accession Number: 
LOH002238

Joan Goddard served as President of AFSCME Local 101 after the Union’s 1981 contract fight centered on narrowing the gap between male and female municipal workers’ pay in San Jose, California.

In this interview, she discusses her role in the negotiations and eventual strike during the 1981 contract struggle. Debate at the bargaining table focused on the Hay study, which compared jobs with similar levels of complexity in predominantly male and predominantly female fields to reveal a large pay gap.

Local 101’s strike is known as the first strike over comparable worth, which argues that a pay gap can only be closed when classifications with similar skill levels earn equivalent pay.

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