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Season 6, Episode 140

Wage Gap Exposed: Tom Spiggle on Caitlin Clark's WNBA Pay Controversy

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Guest Name:


Tom Spiggle

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https://spigglelaw.com/

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Tom Spiggle, founder of the Spiggle Law Firm and employment attorney, joined America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the pay disparity highlighted by WNBA star Caitlin Clark's salary. Spiggle explored the structural barriers women face in the workforce, the impact of collective bargaining agreements on pay equity and ongoing efforts to address wage discrimination.

Spiggle emphasized how Clark's situation exposes longstanding equal pay issues across industries. He noted that while the WNBA's collective bargaining agreement was initially designed to ensure stability, it now inadvertently limits compensation for top performers like Clark. This parallels similar challenges faced by the U.S. women's soccer team, which led to successful contract renegotiations. Spiggle predicts the WNBA will likely follow suit, adjusting player compensation to reflect the league's growing revenue and star power.

The attorney highlighted how pay caps can sometimes function as a form of wage discrimination, particularly in female-dominated fields. While the WNBA's initial intent may not have been discriminatory, the effect has become so as the league's popularity and revenue have grown. Spiggle noted that unions generally help narrow the gender pay gap, with unionized women earning 88 cents to a man's dollar compared to 80 and 82 cents in the private sector.

Spiggle also addressed broader equal pay legislation efforts, including the stalled Paycheck Fairness Act. He explained how some states have implemented robust wage disparity laws to combat limitations in the federal Equal Pay Act. However, Spiggle warned that recent actions by the Trump administration could set back progress on pay equity. He stressed the need for continued efforts to eliminate artificial barriers and ensure fair compensation across genders and racial groups.

To hear more insights on pay equity and employment law, listen to the full episode with Tom Spiggle on America's Work Force Union Podcast.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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