Senate Defies Veto Threat on Overturning Overtime Laws

Senate Defies Veto Threat on Overturning Overtime Laws
In spite of a threatened veto from the White House, on September 10th, the Senate voted to block Bush's plans to reduce the number of American workers eligible for overtime pay. In another dose of presidential doublespeak, the administration is trying to convince America that his plans to eliminate time and a half for millions are "family friendly."
The 40 hour work week was established by the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. As it stands, executives, administrators and professionals are exempt from coverage. Bush seeks to expand these categories to anyone who is in a supervisory position or has had any advanced job training. For instance, the charge nurse on a hospital floor, the captain of a firehouse, or supervisor in a retail store would become ineligible for overtime.
Bush's plan is for workers to receive comp time instead of overtime, claiming that the choice is an employee's option. This ignores the fact that workers have little to nothing to say about the hours that they work, or their schedules. As those of us who actually work for a living (unlike the residents of the White House) know, employees seldom have options about their hours, and those who refuse comp time would be less likely to be hired in the future, or replaced by hungrier workers. No provisions to guard against employer abuse are in Bush's proposal, which the House passed by three votes in July.
The AFL-CIO states that,

• "Millions of salaried workers making between $22,101 and $65,000 [per year] who now are eligible to receive overtime pay could be reclassified as executives or administrative or professional employees, and would no longer qualify for overtime pay.
  Relatively low-salary earners who have supervisory responsibilities or management-related responsibilities would be penalized, as would workers with advanced education or specialized training. Some of the jobs affected are police, firefighters, nurses, retail managers, insurance claims adjusters and medical therapists.
  Employees not covered by the new rules also could be hurt: By reclassifying many of their workers as exempt from overtime pay, employers most likely would assign overtime only to them and eliminate overtime for other workers. Police and firefighters are among those potentially affected.
  Anyone making $65,000 or more a year likely would lose overtime pay, effectively eliminating many middle-income wage earners' much-needed extra pay. "

According to an Economic Policy Institute report, ". . . an employee who works overtime hours in a given week might not receive any pay or time off for that work until a year later, at the employer's discretion . . . A company with 200,000 employees, for instance, might get 160 free hours at $7/hour from each [employee]. That's the equivalent of $224 million the company wouldn't have to pay its workers for up to a year after the worker has earned it. Considering that under normal circumstances, the employer might have to pay 6% interest for a commercial loan of this magnitude, it could save $13 million by relying on comp time to 'borrow' from its employees instead."
Senator Tom Harkin (D. Iowa) authored the amendment blocking the Bush plan, attaching it to the spending bill that funds programs for health, labor and education, including money for medical research and student loans. Crossing party lines to support the amendment were Republicans Lincoln Chaffee, Rhode Island; Ted Stevens, Alaska; Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania; Olympia Snowe, Maine; Lisa Murkowski, Alaska; and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Colorado. Only one Democrat Zell Miller, Georgia, voted against the amendment.
The battle is far from over. The Senate and the House will now hash it out in committees before presenting the finished bill to Bush who continues to threaten a veto if he doesn't get his own way. Once again Bush's actions are exactly the opposite of his words. His "family friendly" plan is one that will lower, if not destroy the standard of living for millions of American families.
Working Families e-Activist Network and other activist organizations are urging all to contact their representatives in Congress to support the Harkin amendment and foil Bush's plans to gut our economy even more than has already been done.