Working America Stalls Hostile Administration’s Attack on Wages
Working America showed its strength early this month when thousands of people contacted their Senators to bar the Bush administration from issuing new overtime-pay rules that would take money from the pockets of millions of workers. The vote was 54-45 including six Republicans (Murkowski and Stevens of Alaska, Chafee of Rhode Island, Snowe of Maine, Specter of Pennsylvania, and Campbell of Colorado) voting to block the changes.
The Bush Administration has waged an assault on working America by pushing changes in overtime pay eligibility that would reduce take home pay for millions of workers. Overtime pay makes up about one-fourth of the average weekly earnings of eligible workers. That is an average $161 a week that workers could lose if the White House gets its way with exempting workers from overtime pay.
| The House of Representatives voted, 213-210, to allow the administration to change the overtime rules. Congressional negotiators will now have to come up with an agreement from both sides to send a bill to the President. |
The Bush Labor Department proposed changes in overtime rules would allow employers to reclassify workers into categories that would make them ineligible from receiving overtime pay. Workers could be required to work an unlimited number of hours without any additional pay. These changes would cover a wide range of workers, including nurses, firefighters, retail clerks and engineering technicians. These changes would erode the protections of the 40-hour workweek, opening the door for millions more to lose overtime pay in the future.
| Successfully Stalled Legislation:
An effort to eliminate overtime through the so-called "comp time" legislation in the House would have permitted employers to substitute "comp time" instead of overtime at the employer’s discretion, putting workers overtime pay directly into the pockets of their employers. A bill in the Senate would eliminate the 40-hour workweek altogether and substitute an 80-hour two-week work period. Workers would be subject to radically shifting schedules under this plan. For example, they could be forced to work 60 hours one week and 20 hours the next without earning a dime of overtime. |
 |
 |
|
|
Current Issue Archives |
| In this issue: | |
|
When Working America Mobilizes Index |
|
|
Working America Stalls Hostile Administration’s Attack on Wages |
|
|
National Leadership Absent on Health Care Crisis |
