US workers to lose time and a half for overtime

[dudeness]

In celebration of the working person's holiday, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao has announced the Bush Administration's plan to end the 60-year-old law which requires employers to pay time-and-a-half for overtime.

I'm sure you already knew that -- if you happened to have run across page 15,576 of the Federal Register.

According to the Register, where the Bush Administration likes to place it's little gifts to major campaign donors, 2.7 million workers will lose their overtime pay -- for a "benefit" of $1.53 billion. I put "benefit" in quotes because, in the official cost-benefit analysis issued by Bush's Labor Department, the amount employers will now be able to slice out of workers' pockets is tallied on the plus side of the rules change. www.gregpalast.com

this is absolutely amazing..if this doesnt motivate a few people nothing will..

[Clete]

1. I don't work anymore, but if I were I would be looking

to unionize. You kids are losing all the gains made by unions in the last century. You are going to have to organize or become serfs. Go rent "Norma Rae". It's a great movie about one gutsy woman, who unionized her factory and all the obstacles thrown in her way. Its very inspiring and entertaining as well.

[wellst0nev0ter]

12. Alternate Link

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=267&row=0

[Clete]

14. Good article.

Thanks.

[Melsky]

2. I can't wait to see

what bs they come up with to blame it on Clinton.

This is something that will hit folks in their pocketbooks, and make them sit up and take notice. No wonder they are trying to get those paperless voting machines in.

[liberalmuse]

3. WHAT????!!!!!!

No way! These people are EVIL! Fuck these fucking fuckhead fuckers! They rape our treasury so they and their kids are set for generations to come, but our kids are going to be their fucking slaves. If American workers don't do something about this, we deserve what we get. Shit! They're taking us back into the 19th century. When are they going to repeal all the child labor laws? I should have kept avoiding the news. This is too much! FUCK. FUCK. FUCK!!!

[leftyandproud]

4. ACTUALLY, they didn't lose it..

This will give people the OPTION of whether to take OT or comp time. Sure OT is the better deal, but everyone's situation is different...some may need the time off...some may not. Bottom line...this simply gives workers the option of taking comp time. Nothing is compulsory.

[dudeness]

5. from my experience lefty

the moment you make working conditions optional or some kind of trade off..you have lost those conditions..if you believe bosses are doing this in the interests of the working class..either i am way too cynical or you havent lived long enough to be taught some hard lessons..

[Boom_cha]

6. Are you sure?

I heard it was to be the employer's option, not the employee's.

[arendt]

8. Right - Employer makes you work 12 hours, then gives 4 comp hours

And ZERO of those hours are at overtime rates.

The employer can make you work any damn set of hours that
are convenient for him. 12 in a row, nights, weekends, and
you get the "privilege" of rearranging your schedule to suit
him. You don't get any extra pay for your inconvenience.

It ain't comp time when you ain't getting compensated.

arendt

[Terwilliger]

13. its called "capitalism"

the bottom line is the important thing

Make the workers work their ass off for very little, and the little they get they have to spend on the same people who take rights and priveleges away from their employees.

I just can't wait for people to finally get sick of all this.

[NYC]

9. The people I've known who had comp time,

never got the time off when they wanted it. It had to be at the convenience of the employer. It couldn't be added on to vacation time, etc. The employer decided when.

[Boom_cha]

7. This proves Bush is not serious about job creation

He's makes a big deal about how concerned he is about unemployment and the economy, but it's all a dog & pony show. He doesn't give a shit and this proves it. This change will take billions of dollars of purchasing power out of the collective pocket of the affected workers. In other words, consumption will contract to some extent and people will lose their jobs as a result. Secondly, the change hurts job creation by eliminating the time-and-a-half incentive for understaffed employers to hire more employees. In other words, until now, if an employer was short-staffed, it had the choice of paying overtime to its existing staff or hiring more employees. So it had an economic incentive to hire more employees rather than pay time-and-a-half. That incentive is now gone with respect to the affected jobs.

[maggrwaggr]

10. Madonna kissing Britney was a MUCH more important story

Media whores indeed

[fortyfeetunder]

11. This is a travesty

I had been following this one for several months. The House of Representatives only got this bill days before the July 4 recess and it passed the House (that is they agreed to let the Dept of Inhumane Labor consider this) by 3 effing votes.

The Labor Department received an unprecedented 80,000 comments from American citizens voicing their opposition to the new rules. Apparently the DOL was swayed by the corporation$ asking them to approve the new rules. It is a desecration of what the word "fair" means.

Don't let anyone fool you on this choice of comp time. As long as there is a jobless recovery, we will all be expected to do more with less. As it is we have the most draconian vacation and family leave policies in the industrialized world. We are now set to work 80 hour weeks at 40 hours pay.

And wait folks, that is not all. If the rules as threatened defined "any trained individual" to be exempt from overtime policy, this could put our public service population in a bind. Like police, fire, and rescue staff who aid us at any time of the day. I hope the public service unions raise holy hell on this one.