National Football League cheerleaders are right now fighting for a living wage:
With the National Football League set to kick off its season in earnest Sunday, four of the league's 32 teams are entangled in lawsuits filed by former cheerleaders alleging improper pay and bad working conditions.
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The Raiderettes might not get to cheer for a lot victories on the field this season, but they got to cheer for a victory in court on Thursday. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Raiders have reached a settlement with their cheerleaders that involves the team paying the Raiderettes $1.25 million. The settlement is still pending court approval.
Two Raiderettes filed a lawsuit in January claiming that the team underpaid them. The suit alleged that the team withheld the cheerleaders' pay until after the season, didn't fairly compensate the women for all their hours of work and asked the cheerleaders to pay for many of their own businesses expenses. One of the cheerleaders who filed the lawsuit estimated that she earned less than $5 an hour in pay.
The Raiderettes also were forced to pay fines for things like bringing the wrong pom-poms to practice.
Under terms of the settlement, the Raiderettes will now earn $9 an hour, including overtime. Over the course of a season, that will mean the Raiders' cheerleaders will earn about $2,000 more than what they were making before the lawsuit. The cheerleaders will also be paid every two weeks, instead of just once a season.
more from WSJ:
The lawsuits, which come amid a wider debate over proper wage levels and income inequality that stretches from Capitol Hill to city-council chambers, say cheerleaders for the Bengals earned as little as $45 a game, while others, like the Buffalo Jills, didn't receive any monetary compensation.
Former Bills cheerleaders, in court papers, say they were required to work 16 hours or more a week, including practices and game-day cheering. In return, they were given free access to the game and a $25 parking pass.
"It hurts, because we put a lot of time and effort into what we do," said Caitlin Ferrari, a former Buffalo Jills cheerleader who is the main plaintiff in one of the suits.
By filing legal complaints, the former Jills, Ben-Gals and Raiderettes have joined the ranks of retail cashiers and fast-food cooks who have staged protests this year demanding higher pay for their work.
"When you're in the moment, you don't see how exploited the women are," said former Buccaneers cheerleader Manouchcar Pierre-Val, who sued the team in May on behalf of herself and other former cheerleaders.
There is no professional organization for NFL cheerleaders, and they aren't members of unions. Pay varies widely across the league.
These workers need $15hr at least for what they do, National Football League cheerleaders should get benefits too, the NFL is rich, totally rich, and yet they treat working women this way?
Unions, Fast Food and other workers, and maybe some folks from the Obama Administration need to join with these NFL Cheerleaders and let NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell know these working women need $15hr and a Union!