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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBill would limit overtime for high-tech jobs
WASHINGTON High-tech workers could see smaller paychecks under an industry-led campaign to revise labor laws to limit overtime benefits.
Some of the multinationals behind the effort, such as IBM and Intel, say the changes are necessary to keep jobs from going overseas, where workers in technology are paid a fraction of U.S. wages.
Computer workers see it as an effort to squeeze more work out of employees for less pay in an industry notorious for killer hours and all-nighters.
U.S. Sen Kay Hagan, D-N.C., introduced the federal legislation last fall to expand the kind of technology workers who currently are not automatically entitled to overtime. The bill, S. 1747: Computer Professionals Update Act, would expand the pool to those whose job duties include securing, configuring, integrating and debugging computer systems, she said.
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/05/2986706/bill-would-limit-ot-for-tech-jobs.html#storylink=cpy
Looks like I will be contacting Senator Hagan's office about this issue. I have a handful of friends that work in IT. These folks deserve every last cent of overtime they work. Was Kay bought out by RTP lobbyists? Sure hope not.
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hedgehog
(36,286 posts)not cutting pay!
Laelth
(32,017 posts)Yet another attempt to subvert labor law and limit the rights of laborers to fair compensation. Why, exactly, is a Democrat supporting the erosion of workers' rights?
Grumble. Further proof that the Democratic Party has lost its way and its identity.
-Laelth
salvorhardin
(9,995 posts)Perhaps a more appropriate title for this bill would be the "Expanding the definition of 'wage slave' act."
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)I'm currently paid for 40 and getting a whole lot of pressure from my employer to work 60-80, the extra hours being unpaid.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)
CrispyQ
(36,492 posts)Workers of all types being exploited by the corporate overlords.
Sad, but not surprised, to see a D behind the name that introduced this legislation.
TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)This latest legislation is just one part of the massive wage theft in the US. One report supposedly stated that corporations profit from over $20 billion a year in wage theft. That is misclassification of worker, working off the clock, unpaid lunch hours, wage differential abuse, two tiered wage scales, UNPAID internships, unpaid overtime, etc. On top of there is a huge amount of money made on workers NOT using their vacation time.
Employers cry that they cannot pay legal wages to US workers because they want too much. It will only end when American workers get mad and start grabbing their employers by their you know whats. With " Mint Rawmoney" and the GOP it will get a lot worse. Even for GOP voters who don't have brain cell in their entire brain.
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)In the Washington DC area, there are no entry level jobs, just unpaid internships for college students whose parents can afford to subsidize them while they work for free.
TheMastersNemesis
(10,602 posts)What corporations and businesses won't say directly is that they demand parity with the rest of the planet. Most of the work that HAS come back and most of the jobs now being created are at about 60% to 65% of what they used to be. That is base salary. Many of those jobs have few or no benefits like health care or vacation or sick days.
A good number of those jobs are independent contractors or through temp employment agencies.
LiberalFighter
(51,020 posts)And identify the pockets that the money ends up going.
Botany
(70,552 posts)So IBM and Intel want to sell their products in the US market but only
if they can pay their American workers less money and if not than
they will ship those U.S. jobs off shore than we should put a huge
tariff on those companies.
This seems to me like some kind of blackmail ..... fuck em. Skilled
American and Canadian workers deserve fair pay and in turn those
salaries will stimulate and help sustain the economy. Haircuts, landscaping,
plumbing, restaurants, colleges, house painters, grocery stores, new and
used cars, homes ......
I have no doubt that both IBM and Intel like other corporations are swimming
in cash but still they want more and more and more.
BTW remember the bullshit story on how a new "information economy" would
be America's new economic driver?
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)My husband has worked in IT for 30 years.
If we even had a dollar for every unpaid hour of overtime that he has worked, we'd be rich. I was practically a single parent when our kids were little. He always had to work late and got home after they were in bed, so they sometimes went for days without seeing Daddy.
He's sitting at his desk in the next room, working, as I type. He worked most of the morning and will be working most of the afternoon, and he won't get a damn thing for it. Except to keep his job for now.
He had to call and ask his supervisor for permission to take an hour to go out for lunch with me, our visiting older daughter and her husband at 1 p.m. How many people have to get permission to go out for lunch on their weekend off?
Between the 50- to 60-hour work weeks, the stress, the insane deadlines and the nasty work environment, he'll be lucky to live until retirement. I'm worried it's going to kill him first. And his situation is not unique, believe me. It is routine for most IT professionals.
IT people who aren't already "exempt" from overtime are going to be screwed by this bill if it's enacted.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)3waygeek
(2,034 posts)I've worked as a software engineer for 25 years and have never gotten overtime pay. Every job I've ever had in the field has been salaried, and you're expected to work at least 50 hours per week while getting paid for 40.
peacebird
(14,195 posts)For forty. No overtime pay, but expected to work overtime to meet schedules nonetheless.
