NOW Blasts Bush Admin for Leaving Millions of Working Families Behind

[Nambe]

U.S. Newswire

NOW Blasts Bush Administration for Leaving Millions of Working FamiliesBehind; New Overtime Laws Devastating to Middle- and Lower-Income

"Today, over 6 million working Americans will begin to feel the effects of the Bush Administration's latest American holiday -- 'Wal-Mart Appreciation Day,'" said NOW President Kim Gandy, who joined Senators Tom Harkin and Arlen Specter, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, and hundreds of union employees, in a joint press conference this afternoon held outside of the Department of Labor. "This is simply an election year handout to the president's allies in Corporate America. We're here to tell George W. Bush that no way will we work for no pay!"

Bush's Department of Labor has won changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act that will now deny overtime pay to millions of workers. Analysis by the Economic Policy Institute shows that non- management salaried workers will lose their right to overtime pay, along with hourly workers who are at risk of being shifted to salaried employment and losing their eligibility for overtime pay, along with hourly workers who are at risk of being shifted to salaried employment with invented "responsibilities" in order to evade overtime pay requirements.

This new law will especially hurt women. Some of the female- dominated positions suffering from this legislation include paralegals, nurses, cooks, secretaries, retail clerks, computer operators, health care contract workers, and non-unionized support workers. A large proportion of these workers are parents who rely on overtime pay to keep their families afloat. ..

"The Bush administration is sacrificing working families on the altar of corporate greed," said Gandy. "We are witnessing a concerted and interconnected campaign to undermine 65 years of fair labor law and worker protections. Bush and conservative leaders in Congress have set out on a course to save their large, corporate donors millions of dollars by removing troublesome workers from overtime coverage; cutting down on expensive lawsuits with stricter 'class action' requirements; adding 'new' workers eligible for overtime to cover their tracks." ..

[Malva Zebrina]

1. Ripe for exploitation of people like nurses

who are often asked to work overtime because of shortage of staff.

There will be a moral dilemma there as most nurses would feel a committment to stay and work in order to care for the people they are charged to care for.

[PROUDNWLIBERAL]

4. Nursing and Overtime

My wife is a Union Nurse and if they pull that shit she's out the door and off to her next place of employment. There is a nursing shortage worldwide and it is only going to get worse. The nurses are in the drivers seat!

[Malva Zebrina]

13. Glad to hear that, I am an old time nurse.

I know Canadian nurses are unionized becasue I have seen them picketing in
Canada, but I did not realize that American nurses are.

[anarchy1999]

7. Amen

Can you imagine YOUR boss asked you to stay an extra 40 hours this week to help meet this week's demand? For not pay, or double time, but time off?

Imagine how that would suck.

[Digit]

2. Targets women

If you look at the classifications and duties, you can clearly see this new law targets women.
I see this as also a way to use the existing workforce to demand extra hours without having to train new staff; without having to hire additional staff to take on additional duties.

[Sugarbleus]

3. Kicking American workers in the stomach again!!

Something like this happened to me in the early 80's. I think that was right about the time the neocons were revving up (Reagan ear?)

All the manufacturing companies started these lies about keeping jobs home, all the while looking overseas for cheaper labor. In the meantime, as the company expanded here, they "promoted" scores of us hourly workers to "Supervisors". I didn't want the job, but others pressured me saying it was a good move. Ha!

What happens is, they don't have to pay me overtime for the zillions of hours everyone was working in those days....(Many many complaints of mandatory overtime during those years). I had worked long enough to be in a big raise catagory...instead they "promote" me to a salaried position. I was younger then and very naive.

They worked our butts off!! Entry level workers got their overtime, we DIDN'T. We had to work even longer than the hourly and got LESS.

Then, the biggest slap in the face, they GO OFFSHORE and fire almost everyone! That was the beginning of sorrows--the 80's.

So, here we go again, but on a much broader scale. It's pathetic and criminal.

[acmavm]

5. This is great! It's damn well time we get back to the real issues that

will cost the little emperor his throne. The economy, jobs, healthcare, No Child Left Behind (you bet), election fraud, corporate tax breaks while shipping jobs overseas, Hallibuton's rape of the American taxpayer.

Enough with the Swift Boats. Get down to business. Remember what issue kicked Poppy out of Washington? The economy. That's where people will cast their votes.

[JerseygirlCT]

6. Too important not to kick! nt

[Classical_Liberal]

8. This also effects many of red state working class.

Do you think they will finally wake the fuck up? My mothers overtime put my sisters through college.

Bush is inconsiderate ass! He isn't a nice person at all and I am not sure why anyone considers him likable. He is deliberately trying to destroy all opportunities for working people to better their lives. He is also a bad Christian. If there is a judgement day, I doubt he'll come out well.

[Scout]

9. deserves a kick!

[CheshireCat]

10. Another KICK

This is the issue that will defeat Bush.

However, I'm betting that many companies will hold off until after the election on reclassifying employees, so that they don't receive overtime.

If the Bushista's take the election, there will be mass reclassification of employees, effectively putting an end to overtime pay.

Educate the public on Bush's war against the working class!

[Catfight]

11. I think this is something Bushco promised his big Corporate buddies

in case he gets the big AXE this November. At least Cheney and Bush got all the favors they promised to their big contributors. Everything a company could want is now in place to make the gap an abyss from CEO pay to worker pay. Bow to the corporations! How can Bush claim to be interested in family when he is determined to keep them apart! The GREAT DIVIDER strikes again!

[smirkymonkey]

12. Kick!

:kick:

[struggle4progress]

14. kick

:kick: