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News :: Labor |
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Overtime Changes Would Deprive Millions |
Current rating: 0 |
by John J. Sweeney
(No verified email address) |
15 Jul 2003
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While the Bush plan would be catastrophic for workers, it would be a bonanza for corporate special interests. As much as $3 billion will be shifted from workers' paychecks to corporate coffers if the plan is adopted. Why? The same question might be asked about the priorities of this administration when it comes to tax changes that favor the wealthiest taxpayers in America. |
Each day, Americans rely on overtime pay to cover bills, save for college or a first house, and make their families' lives a little better. But the Bush administration wants to radically change the rules for America's workers, eliminating overtime pay after 40 hours a week for millions of people.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said the proposed changes take our country in the wrong direction. Reps. Peter King (R-Seaford) and George Miller (D-Calif.) introduced legislation to stop the administration plan, but an amendment to block the proposed regulations was defeated Thursday 213-210 in the House. Now, the best chance to stop the changes is in the Senate.
The administration's proposals would make those earning less than $22,100 eligible for overtime pay if they worked more than 40 hours a week. Currently, only those earning $8,060 are automatically eligible. The catch is that employers could limit overtime for those earning wages above the cap who have previously received overtime pay, exempting white-collar workers and others who hold "positions of responsibility."
If the proposed changes are enacted, among the people who could lose out are police officers, who have been working day and night since 9/11 to protect citizens. Firefighters, nurses, construction workers and even retail workers currently entitled to overtime could be forced to work longer hours for no extra pay. Even a worker at McDonald's who oversees others while cooking burgers could be robbed of overtime pay, as could a deli worker with minimal supervisory duties.
The Bush administration claims that these new rules are necessary to respond to the 21st century workplace. Instead, they will drag millions of American workers back to a 19th-century twilight zone, where the eight-hour day and the 40-hour workweek were distant dreams.
And the plan would do nothing to revive our anemic economy. In fact, it may make things worse. Instead of creating new jobs, slashing overtime pay would encourage employers to get more work out of fewer employees and further trim payrolls. It would also remove billions of dollars from workers' paychecks at the very time that we need their consumer spending to buoy the economy.
According to the Labor Department's own estimate, as many as 3.3 million workers who currently receive overtime pay would be denied it under the new plan. That forecast is unrealistically low. The Economic Policy Institute concluded that the proposed regulations would eliminate overtime pay for more than 8 million workers, since the new plan would make it so easy and profitable for employers to alter workers' job descriptions.
The department's estimate doesn't include an unknown number of workers who would be stripped of overtime rights by a new "highly compensated employee" rule. This rule would make it nearly impossible for workers who earn more than $65,000 a year in salaries, bonuses or commissions to qualify for overtime. Because the salary cap isn't indexed to inflation, more and more "high earners" would lose their overtime each year.
Low-income workers don't get the protections they deserve under the Bush proposal, either. Its much-touted increase in the cap is actually modest, and could even leave the breadwinner in a family of four eligible for food stamps, but not for overtime.
Highly skilled workers would also take a hit if they perform a small amount of administrative work. Medical technicians and dental hygienists who put in long hours on the job say they base their standard of living on overtime pay.
And that's true for many other overtime workers. On average, overtime pay makes up about one-fourth of overtime workers' weekly earnings.
While the Bush plan would be catastrophic for workers, it would be a bonanza for corporate special interests. As much as $3 billion will be shifted from workers' paychecks to corporate coffers if the plan is adopted. Why? The same question might be asked about the priorities of this administration when it comes to tax changes that favor the wealthiest taxpayers in America.
We need to get this economy working again. And not just for the CEOs who surround this president, but for hard-working Americans everywhere.
John J. Sweeney is the president of the AFL-CIO |
