Gainey calls on Pittsburgh businesses to fix gender pay gap

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey on Tuesday called on the city’s businesses to provide equal pay for men and women as he commemorated National Equal Pay Day.

In a press conference held in the mayor’s office, Gainey joined female leaders of his administration and other women to advocate for closing the gender pay gap in the city.

“We’ve been wrong for years and decades for not paying women what they’re worth,” Gainey said. “That’s a form of discrimination we have to end.”

Maria Montaño, who serves as the mayor’s spokesperson, said recalled making what she felt was an unfair wage at a job in Colorado where she helped connect domestic abuse survivors with necessary resources.

“I worked hard to help survivors heal in my community and I made $15,000 a year,” she said. “I never knew what it was like to earn a living wage till I lived here in Pittsburgh.”

Jennifer Olzinger, the city’s chief procurement officer, similarly recalled that her first job after college paid her only $17,000.

“I struggled for years to climb myself up, promote myself,” she said.

Kim Lucas, director of the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, said she once helped a male friend get a job at a company where she was working. She soon discovered he made more than she did despite having a job that required less work.

“When I think about equal pay, I think about getting paid what you’re worth and not getting paid less for doing more,” Lucas said.

The city is working to address wage disparities for its own workers, Human Resources Director Paula Kellerman said, by removing salary history questions from applications and providing salary transparency when recruiting for jobs.

“We will work diligently to remove all pay inequity in the city,” Gainey said, urging private companies in the city to do the same. “It makes us a welcoming city. It makes us safe, and it helps us thrive.”

Despite the efforts, women working for the city have still faced inequities. Lisa Epps, the city’s fire inspector, said she’s seen disparities and racism in the 33 years she’s worked for the fire department.

“It’s been a struggle,” she said, highlighting as an example the fact that she discovered a male counterpart was getting additional “driving pay” though she had never been told she also qualified for that compensation.

She is one of five females in a department that boasts over 740 employees.

“At this moment, I am fighting to receive the same amount of wages as my counterpart,” she said.

Amera Gilchrist is the first woman to become deputy chief of EMS in the city.

“I’ve always had to work ten times as hard to get half as far as anybody else,” she said. “I hate the fact that I’m the first, but I hope there’s many more of you after.”

Tuesday marked National Equal Pay Day, representing how far into the year that women on average had to work to catch up with what their male counterparts earned in the previous 12 months. This means many women had to work 15 months to earn what men make in a year. Some women still take longer to make the same amount, said Rochelle Jackson, CEO of McKeesport-based Black Women’s Policy Center.

On average, Black women in the country don’t achieve equal pay till July, she said, and Black women in Pittsburgh don’t achieve equal pay till November.