Alabama Attorney General-hopeful Joseph Siegelman won the endorsement of the woman who became the face of the women’s equal pay movement in Congress.
Lilly Ledbetter, the Alabama-native and namesake of former President Barack Obama‘s first piece of legislation signed into law back in 2009, endorsed the Birmingham civil rights attorney and the son of former Governor Don Siegelman on Wednesday.
“Harassment and unequal treatment of women in the workplace violate the core American values of opportunity and equality,” Ledbetter said. “If current trends continue, women in Alabama will not see equal pay until the year 2088. Joseph Siegelman is committed to equal employment rights for women, and he is the candidate we can trust to follow through with enforcing the law.”
Ledbetter became a household name during her tireless fight for equal rights in the workplace, starting with her own wage discrimination case against an Alabama company that paid her substantially less than her male counterparts for almost two decades. Her case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she lost in a divided decision in 2007. She continued to fight for pay equality in the workplace, and in 2009, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which extends the deadline in which workers subjected to pay discrimination can recover lost wages, was signed into law.
Siegelman said he takes great price in her endorsement.
“Lilly Ledbetter’s personal sacrifice in pursuit of justice for women in the workplace has lifted us all up, and Alabama is lucky to call Ms. Ledbetter one of our own. I take great pride in her endorsement, and I promise her and all women in Alabama that I will honor it,” Siegelman said in a statement. Siegelman announced, in conjunction with his acceptance of Ms. Ledbetter’s endorsement, a slate of policies directed at equal employment rights for women.
Ledbetter is Siegelman’s latest of many endorsements. He’s previously received endorsements from the Alabama New South Alliance, the Lee County and Bullock County Voters League, the Democratic Women of Barbour County, several unions, including the Communications Workers, the Mine Workers, Electrical Workers, Pipefitters, the Central Alabama Labor Federation and the Alabama Building and Construction Trades.
