Activism

Newsom’s Wife Takes On Equal Pay for Equal Work In State Jobs

Published

6 years ago

September 19, 2019

For more than 25 years, Diane Shelton held steady government jobs with the state Assembly as a legislative consultant, capitol office director, legislative director and chief of staff for seven different Assembly members, starting in 1984.

When she got her first job with the Assembly, there were only seven Blacks out of 120 members of the state legislature, and just a handful of African-American staffers.

During that time, Shelton – who is African American and lives just south of Sacramento in Elk Grove – said she earned about $30,000 less than her white counterparts.

Then in 2011, Shelton, who is now 62, became a trainer with the Capitol Institute, the lower house’s professional development unit. That office operates under the supervision of the Assembly Rules committee.

In that new role, Shelton earned a salary of about $67,000. At the same time, the Assembly paid a white male counterpart almost 40 percent more money than she made: around $105,000. He had the same job title, comparable experience and performed similar duties.

Shelton says when she asked her supervisor for pay on par with her peers, he responded with only a 7.5 percent increase. After exhausting administrative options to get an annual salary equal to her white male counterpart, in 2017, Shelton decided to sue the State Assembly. She cited racial discrimination, unlawful retaliation and violation of the California Fair Pay Act, among other claims.

She is not alone.

Last week, Gov Newsom signed AB 467, also known as the “Equal Pay for Equal Play” bill, into law. The measure, introduced by Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath (D-Oceanside) requires sports teams to pay women equal to men in all sporting competitions held on state land in California.

Even though California has the slimmest gender pay gap in the United States, on average, women still earn about 89 percent of the total money men are paid in the state, according to the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls (CCSWG).

That’s about $.89 for every dollar men earn, which adds up to a loss of nearly $78.6 billion every year for women in the state.

For Black women, the pay gap is wider and has a more deep-reaching impact on African-American families across California. Black women – 80 percent of whom are the sole or primary breadwinners in their households – earn only about $.61 for every dollar a white, non-Hispanic man makes.

California has the strongest equal pay laws in the country. Yet, women with master’s degrees working full time make only $.72 for every dollar men with masters degrees earn.

“I loved my job as a trainer,” Shelton said. “I enjoyed using my skills to create original training for an increasing number of new staff. However, after seven stressful years of pursuing more equitable pay and watching decision makers devalue my work, I reluctantly retired.”

“It’s humiliating, it’s unjust and just plain wrong,” said first partner of California, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, speaking at an event on Black Women Equal Pay Day (August 22) in Sacramento. Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, other lawmakers and guests joined the governor’s life partner to bring attention to the issue.

In April, Siebel Newsom announced that her office was partnering with the CCSWG, California Labor Agency Secretary Julie Su and TIME’S UP, an organization focused on fair, safe and dignified work for women. Together, the coalition launched a statewide initiative called #EqualPayCA.

“We all win when women win,” Siebel Newsom said. “Women are the backbone of our families.”

In 2015, former Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the California Fair Pay Act. Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) sponsored the bill she wrote to give teeth to the state’s existing labor law, the California Equal Pay Act, which was passed in 1949, first affording equal pay to women in the workplace.

Besides requiring equal pay for men and women in “substantially similar jobs,” the new amendment included race and ethnicity, too; outlawed retaliation against employees who complain about unfair pay; and allowed for equal pay salary claims for the same kind of job – even when located in different places.

Since then, California’s equal pay law has inspired similar legislation in 41other states and Jackson is putting forth a new bill that will require organizations with 100 employees or more to make annual salary reports to the state broken down by gender, race and ethnicity.

In California, where there remains a gaping wealth disparity between Blacks and other racial groups, any equal pay effort that takes into account gender and race takes on much greater significance. In 2014, in Los Angeles and Orange counties, the median household net worth of U.S.-born whites was $355,000 compared to just $4,000 for U.S.-born Blacks, according to the California Budget and Policy Center.

Since launching her equal pay campaign, Seibel Newsom says 27 California companies have taken the equal pay pledge, including Gap, Intel and Cisco. And even though the state has a strong equal pay law on the books, more work needs to be done.

“It’s about education, implementation and enforcement,” she says. “I applaud these businesses for stepping up and doing their part to ensure pay equity within their companies, and I encourage all other businesses in California to follow suit. Together, we can close the pay gap and create a more equitable California for all.”

Tanu Henry, California Black Media

Posts by Tanu Henry, California Black Media

Up Next

The Human and Economic Toll of Gun Violence is Staggering

Don't Miss

Los Angeles Launches Cybersecurity System To Detect Malicious Emails

Tanu Henry, California Black Media

Click to comment

Activism

Discrimination in City Contracts

The report was made public by Councilmember Carroll Fife, who brought it this week to the Council’s Life Enrichment Committee, which she chairs. Councilmembers, angry at the conditions revealed, unanimously approved the informational report, which is scheduled to go to an upcoming council meeting for discussion and action. The current study covers five years, 2016-2021, roughly overlapping the two tenures of Libby Schaaf, who served as mayor from January 2015 to January 2023.

Published

3 days ago

February 13, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. Eleanor Ramsey (top, left) founder, and CEO of Mason Tillman Associates, which conducted the study revealing contract disparities, was invited by District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife (top center) to a Council committee meeting attended by Oakland entrepreneur Cathy Adams (top right) and (bottom row, left to right) Brenda Harbin-Forte, Carol Wyatt, and councilmembers Charlene Wang and Ken Houston. Courtesy photos.

Disparity Study Exposes Oakland’s Lack of Race and Equity Inclusion

Part 1

By Ken Epstein

A long-awaited disparity study funded by the City of Oakland shows dramatic evidence that city government is practicing a deeply embedded pattern of systemic discrimination in the spending of public money on outside contracts that excludes minority- and woman-owned businesses, especially African Americans.

Instead, a majority of public money goes to a disproportionate handful of white male-owned companies that are based outside of Oakland, according to the 369-page report produced for the city by Mason Tillman Associates, an Oakland-based firm that performs statistical, legal and economic analyses of contracting and hiring.

The current study covers five years, 2016-2021, roughly overlapping the two tenures of Libby Schaaf, who served as mayor from January 2015 to January 2023.

The amount of dollars at stake in these contracts was significant in the four areas that were studied, a total of $486.7 million including $214.6 million on construction, $28.6 million on architecture, and engineering, $78.9 million on professional services, and $164.6 million on goods and services.

While the city’s policies are good, “the practices are not consistent with policy,” said Dr. Eleanor Ramsey, founder and CEO of Mason Tillman Associates.

There have been four disparity studies during the last 20 years, all showing a pattern of discrimination against women and minorities, especially African Americans, she said. “You have good procurement policy but poor enforcement.”

“Most minority- and women-owned businesses did not receive their fair share of city-funded contracts,” she continued. “Over 50% of the city’s prime contract dollars were awarded to white-owned male businesses that controlled most subcontracting awards. And nearly 65% of the city’s prime contracts were awarded to non-Oakland businesses.”

As a result, she said, “there is a direct loss of revenue to Oakland businesses and to business tax in the city… There is also an indirect loss of sales and property taxes (and) increased commercial office vacancies and empty retail space.”

Much of the discrimination occurs in the methods used by individual city departments when issuing outside contracts. Many departments have found “creative” ways to circumvent policies, including issuing “emergency” contracts for emergencies that do not exist and providing waivers to requirements to contract with women- and minority-owned businesses, Ramsey said.

Many of the smaller contracts – 59% of total contracts issued – never go to the City Council for approval.

Some people argue that the contracts go to a few big companies because small businesses either do not exist or cannot do the work. But the reality is that a majority of city contracts are small, under $100,000, and there are many Black-, woman- and minority-owned companies available in Oakland, said Ramsey.

“Until we address the disparities that we are seeing, not just in this report but with our own eyes, we will be consistently challenged to create safety, to create equity, and to create the city that we all deserve,” said Fife.

A special issue highlighted in the disparity report was the way city departments handled spending of federal money issued in grants through a state agency, Caltrans. Under federal guidelines, 17.06%. of the dollars should go to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs).

“The fact is that only 2.16% of all the dollars awarded on contracts (went to) DBEs,” Ramsey said.

Speaking at the committee meeting, City Councilmember Ken Houston said, “It’s not fair, it’s not right. If we had implemented (city policies) 24 years ago, we wouldn’t be sitting here (now) waiving (policies).”

“What about us? We want vacations. We want to have savings for our children. We’re dying out here,” he said.

Councilmember Charlene Wang said that she noticed when reading the report that “two types of business owners that are consistently experiencing the most appalling discrimination” are African Americans and minority females.

“It’s gotten worse” over the past 20 years, she said. “It’s notable that businesses have survived despite the fact that they have not been able to do business with their own city.”

Also speaking at the meeting, Brenda Harbin-Forte, a retired Alameda County Superior Court judge, and chair of the Legal Redress Committee for the Oakland NAACP, said, “I am so glad this disparity study finally was made public. These findings … are not just troubling, they are appalling, that we have let these things go on in our city.”

“We need action, we need activity,” she said. “We need for the City Council and others to recognize that you must immediately do something to rectify the situation that has been allowed to go on. The report says that the city was an active or inactive or unintentional or whatever participant in what has been going on in the city. We need fairness.”

Cathy Adams, president of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce, said, “The report in my opinion was very clear. It gave directions, and I feel that we should accept the consultant Dr. Ramsey’s recommendations.

“We understand what the disparities are; it’s going to be upon the city, our councilmembers, and our department heads to just get in alignment,” she said.

Said West Oakland activist Carol Wyatt, “For a diverse city to produce these results is a disgrace. The study shows that roughly 83% of the city contracting dollars went to non-minority white male-owned firms under so-called race neutral policies

These conditions are not “a reflection of a lack of qualified local firms,” she continued. “Oakland does not have a workforce shortage; it has a training, local hire, and capacity-building problem.”

“That failure must be examined and corrected,” she said. “The length of time the study sat without action, only further heightens the need for accountability.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

COMMENTARY: The National Protest Must Be Accompanied with Our Votes

Just as Trump is gathering election data like having the FBI take all the election data in Georgia from the 2020 election, so must we organize in preparation for the coming primary season to have the right people on ballots in each Republican district, so that we can regain control of the House of Representatives and by doing so, restore the separation of powers and balance that our democracy is being deprived of.

Published

6 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper. File photo..

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

As thousands of Americans march every week in cities across this great nation, it must be remembered that the protest without the vote is of no concern to Donald Trump and his administration.

In every city, there is a personal connection to the U.S. Congress. In too many cases, the member of Congress representing the people of that city and the congressional district in which it sits, is a Republican. It is the Republicans who are giving silent support to the destructive actions of those persons like the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Director, who are carrying out the revenge campaign of the President rather than upholding the oath of office each of them took “to Defend The Constitution of the United States.”

In California, the primary comes in June 2026. The congressional races must be a priority just as much as the local election of people has been so important in keeping ICE from acquiring facilities to build more prisons around the country.

“We the People” are winning this battle, even though it might not look like it. Each of us must get involved now, right where we are.

In this Black History month, it is important to remember that all we have accomplished in this nation has been “in spite of” and not “because of.” Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a struggle.”

Today, the struggle is to maintain our very institutions and history. Our strength in this struggle rests in our “collectiveness.” Our newspapers and journalists are at the greatest risk. We must not personally add to the attack by ignoring those who have been our very foundation, our Black press.

Are you spending your dollars this Black History Month with those who salute and honor contributions by supporting those who tell our stories? Remember that silence is the same as consent and support for the opposition. Where do you stand and where will your dollars go?

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Congresswoman Simon Votes Against Department of Homeland Security, ICE Funding

“They need accountability. Republicans already gave these agencies an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, funding they have used to conduct raids at schools, separate families, and deploy a masked paramilitary who refuse to identify themselves on American streets. This bill gives them more funding without a single reform to stop unconstitutional, immoral abuses,” she said.

Published

6 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12). File photo.

By Post Staff

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) released a statement after voting against legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which supports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB).

“Today, I voted NO on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 13, 2026.

“ICE and CBP do not need more funding to terrorize communities or kill more people,” she said in the media release.

“They need accountability. Republicans already gave these agencies an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, funding they have used to conduct raids at schools, separate families, and deploy a masked paramilitary who refuse to identify themselves on American streets. This bill gives them more funding without a single reform to stop unconstitutional, immoral abuses,” she said.

“The American people are demanding change. Poll after poll of Americans’ opinions show overwhelming support for requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras and prohibiting them from hiding their faces during enforcement actions. This is the bare minimum transparency standard, and this funding legislation does not even meet this low bar,” Simon said.

“Republicans in Congress are not serious about reining in these lawless agencies. Their refusal to make meaningful changes to the DHS funding bill has consequences that go beyond immigration enforcement. TSA agents who keep our airports safe and FEMA workers who help our communities recover from disasters are stuck in limbo due to Republican inaction.

“The Constitution does not have an exception for immigrants. Every person on American soil has rights, and federal agencies must respect them. The East Bay has made clear at the Alameda County and city level that we will hold the line against a violent ICE force and support our immigrant communities – I will continue to hold the line and our values with my votes in Congress.”