Imagine how much more cheer you could spread around during the holidays if you made more all year. The Women's Bureau at the Department of Labor has launched a Fair Pay Clearinghouse to educate employers and provide information and resources to working women and men who are concerned about fair pay. You can get information on the wage gap (still about 30%) and info on pay adjustments made by enlightened employers around the country. The Clearinghouse is free, and offers publications like What Works: Fair Pay for Working Women. Call 800-347-3741 or check out http://www.dol.gov/dol/wb.

Like every other household responsibility, holiday shopping falls mostly on women. This year, use your shopping power to make a statement against slave labor and exploited women world wide. Look for the UNITE! label -- and you'll know the clothes you're buying were made by a union of women and men working hard to make sure workers get wages high enough to support a family and make their jobs more secure. To learn about their Wear What You Believe campaign, fax your name and address to Ginny Coughlin at UNITE!, 212-819-0885 or check out http://www.uniteunion.org.

THUMBS UP TO THE PRESIDENT...

HAIL TO THE CHIEF, for naming Madeleine Albright as the first woman Secretary of State. And hail to all you activists who called and E-mailed the White House to push for women in high places (WFF11/15). Give Bill a thumbs up and tell him there are more good women out there to appoint at 202-456-1111; fax 456-2461; E-mail [email protected].

WFF is giving two Brendan Sullivan potted palm awards this week - to the two political parties. Now is the time for the party caucuses to elect committee chairs (R's) and ranking members (D's) of those committees. The Democrats chose John Spratt (SC) over Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY), as ranking member of the Budget Committee, even after she appealed to them to elect at least one female member. Nope. They stuck with the same old 100% male quota. The R's didn't do any better. All 17 chairs are white men. If you're a woman who voted in this election, tell majority leader Newt (202-225-4501; fax 202-225-4656; E-mail [email protected]) or minority leader Gephardt (202-225-2671; fax 202-225-7452; E-mail [email protected]) what you think of their treatment of your sisters in Congress. For newcomers to WFF, Brendan Sullivan was Ollie North's lawyer during Irangate. At one point in the hearings, he felt so ignored he jumped up and shouted "I am not a potted palm." Our award is for those who do the most to make women invisible.