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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1985)
Looking for work? Qr What's better than a shot in the dark? A: A Resume from ODE Graphx Services! Shirts West T-Shirts, Sweats, & More! 10% off wttti student 1.0. 344-1403 S EARN CREDIT VOLUNTEER! Looking Glass is seeking profes sionally oriented people from the fields of: • Human Services • Recreation • Public Relations * Business • Graphic Arts s For more Information call Looking Glass 686-2688 World news Bill on comparable worth study panned by House conservatives WASHINGTON (APj — Congressional Democrats thought they were waltzing toward passage of a law this year that would load to equal pay for women. Then House conser vatives stopped the music. Angry women's groups and labor unions say the few Kepublicnis w ho have stalled the legislation with scores of amendments am fighting a losing battle against one of the most significant women's issues of the decade But opponents — backed by President Reagan and major corporations — believe they are buying time to in torn* Americans that the proposal to raise pay for certain jobs tradi tionally held by women could destroy the economy At issue is a House bill scheduled for ac tion this week proposing to study whether women and minorities in the federal workforce are victims of pay discrimination If it becomes law. it could be used to establish a system of comparable worth under which men and women would receive the same salaries for different jobs judged to be of similar value. If the bill fails, the women * movement and labor unions will have lost an important test of strength “If they make this a big national issue, they’re going to get a black eye,'' predicts the bill's sponsor. Rep. Mary Rose Dakar. tMJbio. “Women and minorities have a stake in the bill If conservatives want to fight It, good. Let them alienate the blacks, women and Hispanics in their districts." Dakar's pay equity bill passed the House by a 4t3-*» vote last year, but it never came up far it vote in the Republican controlled Senate To increase the chance of passage thi* year, the measure was broadened to include minority groups In addition, an identical bill was in troduced in the Senate by Sens Alan Cranston. D-Calif . and Daniel Evans. R-Wash This year. Dakar said Senate approval is more tikely because Evans is a co-sponsor and because 22 Senate seats held by Republicans are up for re-election nest year. The president has ridiculed comparable worth us “hare-brained” and Clarence Pendleton. Civil Rights Commission chair man. called it "the looniest idee since Looney Tunes t ame on the screen.” But supporters of the proposal say it is uncertain whether Reagan would be bold enough to veto the bill with tfox 22 Senate seats on the ballot next year. “The Republicans cannot afford to be known as the party that opposed fairness for woman.” said Eleanor Stneal, president of the National Organization for Women tipponents say including blacks and Hispanic* in the proposal is a political trick designed to pass legislation that would hold down the pay of men who hold blue-collar jobs and increase pay for women who work mostly in offices “How can you tell a steelworker that his fot» is less valuable than a secretary's* free enterprise should decide that, not some government panel " said Rep. Richard Armey K-Texas, a former economics professor feuding the House fight against .pay equity Heckler asked to resign post for ambassadorship to Ireland WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi dent Reagan asked Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler on Monday to give up her Cabinet post for the ambassadorship to Ireland, the White House announced. . Heckler, who launched a campaign in recent days to save LIQUIDATION \°/o (I OFF! _ .. ORIGINAL VALUE Or DEPT. STORE PRICES! PRICES VALID ^■S ONLY at VALLEY RIVER ANNEX^ Open 10-6 (near BI-MART) GOInGON NOW! EVERYTHING MUST GO! '1 Thousands of pairs ofM Jeans, Pants & T°PJs(uB everything! ALL LIQUIDATION 1 PRICED! m her job at the helm of the governments largest depart-. rnont. asked for and was glyen a few days to think about it., presidential spokesman l-arrv Speakes said. Heckler met with Keagan alone in the Oval Office for SO niinutes Monday afternoon to try to talk him out of reassign ing her. Hut Speakes said the presi dent. who denied earlier in the day that he would fire the IIIIS secretary, urged her to accept the job as “a promotion,” Earlier. Reagan had declared himself satisfied with the per formance of Heckler, whose management ability and loyalty to conservative principles have ' been questioned by top ad ministration officials. Heckler, after leaving the . White House, ignored reporters’ attempts to question tier. She. returned to HHS headquarters after the session and met with some members of her staff. A spokeswoman for Heckler said the secretary would have no im mediate comment on the ses sion with Keagan. Reagan, who had nevor asked a member of his Cabinet to step down, apparently was convinc ed by his chief of staff. Donald Regan, and other advisers that Heckler should be moved out of the leadership of the giant bureaucracy. But Speakes in sisted the president was not dissatisfied with her perfor mance and that she was not be ing fired. Asked if she (Heckler) had the option of remaining in her post, however, Speakes said, "I do not have an answer to that.” Speakes' said Heckler has "served with distinction as a member of Congress and as a member of the Cabinet" and. as a woman of Irish descent, "she would make- a valuable .con tribution in IJ.S.-Irish relations and be able to work toward solv ing problems in the region". "Heckler has asked for a few days to consider the president's offer.;and will respond at that time." Speakes said. ."Mean while. she remains as secretary of health and human services." . Speakes was asked repeatedly whvRcagan Wanted I tackier out of the-Cabinet posi . and would -not reply directly Although Speakes repeatedly characterized the job offer as a promotion, it would mean a pay cut of about $15,000 a year and the loss of a department with 145.000 employees and. as she was fond of saying, the largest budget in the world with the ex ception of the entire IJ.S. and Soviet budgets — $550 billion. Reports had circulated for days that Reagan was about to name Heckler ambassador to Ireland. .. ' "That's a lovely position for someone else." Heckler said of the ambassadorship last month. Reagan, bristling at published reports that his chief of staff had won presidential approval to oust the HHS secretary, told reporters Monday. "There has never been any thought in my mind to fire Margaret Heckler. I don’t know where these stories come from Thev ar< not true."
