Feinstein Assailed on Comparable Worth : Protesters Show Up at S.F. Reception for Women’s Political Caucus

More than 75 chanting women and men picketed Friday outside a City Hall reception for the National Women’s Political Caucus, contending that the fund-raiser’s host, Mayor Dianne Feinstein, opposes comparable worth.

Some of the demonstrators, ranging from lawyers and other professionals to clerks and other office workers, wore red T-shirts printed with “San Francisco 59ers”--a reference to studies showing that women earn only 59% of the wages paid men for comparable jobs.

Feinstein denied that she opposes equal pay, saying she has been trying to develop a program the city can afford. She has opposed a comparable worth program adopted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, but she said before the protest that she “supports the issue of comparable worth.”

She also discounted any damage to her position as a prominent woman within the Democratic Party. “I’ve been picketed many times,” she shrugged. “That doesn’t bother me.”

However, the mayor did move the reception from her posh Presidio Terrace mansion to City Hall after learning of the demonstration, reportedly to avoid inconveniencing her neighbors in the gated community.

Comparable worth is designed to ease discrimination by equalizing wages for jobs often held by women, such as secretary, and jobs held mostly by men, such as truck driver. Female-dominated jobs usually pay considerably less.

Caucus Chairwoman Irene Natividad was unhappy with the controversy, but she said the protest “might work a change” in Feinstein’s position. “Obviously, there is a bit of irony involved here,” she said.

“As chief budgetary officer, she has the right to (set) her priorities,” Natividad said. “I don’t happen to agree with the budgetary priorities. I think pay equity is a priority. She may well arrive at that position.”

Protesters were careful to point out that they were aiming their protest at the mayor alone and did not intend to hurt the fund-raising campaign of the feminist political caucus, which supports the comparable worth concept.

“We’re not out after the (women’s caucus),” said Sharon Johnson, a protest organizer. “We’re after the mayor.”

“She would like to be seen as a supporter of women’s issues,” said San Francisco lawyer Judith Kurtz, spokeswoman for the Coalition for Pay Equity, which arranged the protest. “Unfortunately, she is no friend of women on this issue.”

“The mayor cannot have it both ways--calling herself a feminist and hosting this function while at the same time holding women and minorities hostage,” Johnson said.

At issue is Feinstein’s decision to veto an ordinance that would have given some city workers about $28 million in daily $5 pay bonuses until a permanent comparable worth package could be worked out in 1987.

The Board of Supervisors overrode Feinstein’s veto--the only override in her seven years as mayor. She responded by placing the issue on the fall ballot, where it faces a difficult fight for voter approval.

“This is not comparable worth, it’s comparable girth,” the mayor said of the current program. About $8 million already has been placed in a special reserve fund until it is clear how the bonuses should be dispensed.

Feinstein blames the comparable worth plan for a major share of the city’s projected $76-million deficit next year. Her critics disagree, blaming the deficit on the mayor’s adding 2,500 employees to the city payroll in the last three years.

Undaunted, Feinstein said the present comparable worth plan “would raise salaries higher than any other jurisdiction” and is “illegal under the City Charter, which says any fringe benefits must be voted on by the people.”

She said she is negotiating with city labor unions to find a plan acceptable to all sides.