Lower pay, longer hours and unpredictable work schedules are some of the increased challenges working families will face if the Bush Administration is able to pass its proposed changes to overtime rules in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Some of the most important employment protections for working families today are part of the FLSA, established in 1938, which sets minimum national standards for wages and overtime. Under the FLSA's overtime rules, some eighty million workers are now paid time-and-a-half when they work more than forty hours a week. Many of them depend on this overtime pay for survival at a time when the minimum wage is far from a living wage in most parts of the US. But the Bush Team seems determined to terminate this hard-fought benefit for millions of workers.
Promoted by the Administration as "family-friendly" measures, the proposed changes, along with five Big Business-backed bills now in Congress, would actually make it much more difficult for working families to stay afloat. As an Economic Policy Institute report released June 26 notes, the main consequence of the changes would be that about eight million police officers, nurses, store supervisors, secretaries and many other workers would face reduced pay because employers who require their workers to labor more than forty hours a week would not be required to pay the time-and-a-half formula.
Peter Rothberg
Lower pay, longer hours and unpredictable work schedules are some of the increased challenges working families will face if the Bush Administration is able to pass its proposed changes to overtime rules in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Some of the most important employment protections for working families today are part of the FLSA, established in 1938, which sets minimum national standards for wages and overtime. Under the FLSA’s overtime rules, some eighty million workers are now paid time-and-a-half when they work more than forty hours a week. Many of them depend on this overtime pay for survival at a time when the minimum wage is far from a living wage in most parts of the US. But the Bush Team seems determined to terminate this hard-fought benefit for millions of workers.
Promoted by the Administration as “family-friendly” measures, the proposed changes, along with five Big Business-backed bills now in Congress, would actually make it much more difficult for working families to stay afloat. As an Economic Policy Institute report released June 26 notes, the main consequence of the changes would be that about eight million police officers, nurses, store supervisors, secretaries and many other workers would face reduced pay because employers who require their workers to labor more than forty hours a week would not be required to pay the time-and-a-half formula.
The AFL-CIO has been working overtime against the changes as have local unions and grassroots groups nationwide. Check the Federation’s site for background on the FLSA and click here to view its powerful new TV ad currently running this week nationally on CNN and in Maine, Ohio and Missouri. (Maine is home to moderate GOP Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Christopher Bond, R-Mo., are up for re-election next year.)
Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, one of organized labor’s strongest supporters in Congress, has proposed an amendment that would block the new proposed regulations. The Senate debate began this week and a vote is scheduled for WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10. Click here ASAP to tell your Senators to support the Harkin amendment. Tell them their own jobs really might depend on it.
Harkin says that he believes he has three to six Republican votes, which could be decisive in the Senate, where the GOP is in control by a narrow margin. This fight looks like it’ll be close so let your reps know how you feel today.
Peter RothbergTwitterPeter Rothberg is the The Nation’s associate publisher.