(AP)— Genteel and old-fashioned Wimbledon discarded one of its longest traditions unequal pay. The All England Club yielded to 21st century realities Thursday, agreeing to pay women the same as men and falling in line with the other Grand Slam tournaments.

Six-time singles champion Billie Jean King, a pioneer for women’s sports, said the decision was “a long time coming.”

A long time coming, that’s the understatement of the century. Can you believe this huge unjust disparity in pay between men and women took this long to be remedied. I am just beside myself this morning, mainly because I didn’t know this was the case in tennis. Tennis, a sport that lures in viewers for both the great male and female players. What the heck? How come it took so long? Did the women tennis players ever consider boycotting? Why would they grace old fuddy-duddy Wimbledon with their presence at all?

And speaking about pay, what the hell is going on with manufacturing jobs?

Unionized workers at Harley-Davidson Inc.’s largest manufacturing plant overwhelmingly approved a new labor agreement yesterday, ending a strike that had halted motorcycle production for three weeks.

Eighty-three percent of those who voted endorsed the contract, which calls for a 12 percent wage increase over three years, the union said in a statement. Starting wages for new employees will be lower, but they will be able to advance to the same maximum rate earned by current employees.

New employees will be paid less to start out. This contract is not unusual. Many manufacturers and unions in many different industries have agreed to these types of terms recently. Instead of having individuals who get these jobs make more starting out than workers made a decade ago, they are making less. Doesn’t that go against everything we know about economics? Salaries are supposed to advance as the years go by. Hello, inflation! But for some reason young people that maybe are following in their mom or dad’s footsteps and becoming assembly line employees are actually taking a step back in pay.

The way I see it housing, fuel, food, all these things continue to cost us a prettier penny than they did just five years ago. So, this is truly the generation that will not do better than their parents. When I say this generation, I’m not talking about everyone. Executive salaries are skyrocketing, and members of Congress have great healthcare, but for the majority of the population…sign here on the dotted line. Ratify a contract that turns back the clock on ecominic advancement.

So I’ve been interviewing quite a few top level women executives this past week, and I heard a disturbing theme. Many of them thought the fact that they did not have kids or a husband worked to their advantage. They had no one to answer to and could travel endlessly if need be for work, or work long hours. A family, they said, would have kept them down. They were perplexed how women with children were able to make it up the Corporate ladder.

Men, on the other hand, didn’t have to worry about such things because it would be their wives who would pick up the load at home.

I don’t think we expect enough from men sometimes.

If it were truly seen as a partnership a person’s ambitions would be endless, no matter what they pursued.

What’s your take?

What happens when an employee is caught doing naughty things after hours? At some companies that can be a cause for dismissal.

But what happens when a CEO gets arrested for drunk driving?
Doug Parker, the CEO of US Airways, got busted last week for driving while intoxicated. The arrest came on the heels of his failed bid to buy up Delta Airlines and merge the two carriers together, probably leaving consumers and workers in the exhaust. Well, the deal didn’t go through and maybe Parker wanted to drown his sorrows.

Understandable. But what, if any punishment should he face? And I mean punishment beyond the criminal legal system. What about his job, his reputation, his CEO life?

Any thoughts?

Talk about an office romance gone bad. Don’t you all feel like there was something just not right about Lisa Nowak, the NASA astronaut that reportedly drove 900 miles in a diaper to confront the woman she thought was stealing her love.

I can’t help but cringe at this story. Women have fought so hard to advance in life/careers. Here we are, proud to have women astronauts, and one does something like this. It plays into every stereotype of emotional, on-the-edge women. Part of me wishes her behavior was indeed a result of being up in space. Some experts say it can drive a person batty.

If it’s not a result of space fever, then I think all women should take a long hard look in the mirror. Life is not about love triangles and soap operas. Let’s stand up and be useful citizens of this world already!

The working stiff just can’t get a break.

Do you know what it’s like to live on minimum wage? Probably not. Most of us fat cats don’t. We live our good lives, eating what we want, having heat when we want, knowing little about what happens in the world outside…the poor world. Yes, if you’re making minimum wage and supporting a family, you’re poor buddy.

Guys, the federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour. $5.15. That’s $206 a week. That’s $10,712 annually. You can’t live on that, can you? I made about $13,000 a year in the 1980s, when I was sharing a tiny apartment with a friend and paying $300 a month in rent.
While CEOs and the top executives at major corporations, or even smaller profitable small businesses, decide if they should add another wing to their mansions, the issue of raising the minimum wage by $2.10, about the cost of a carton of milk, should be pretty straight forward.

So why has the Senate attached a bunch of tax breaks for businesses to the minimum wage bill?

My mom, who is a Greek-Turk, would say, “den drepesai yavrum”, translated, “aren’t you ashamed of yourself my dear”.

Either they endorse a hike in the wage or not. Do the poor saps deserve it? If the answer is yes, then do it already.