[lbo-talk] Overtime protests.....

[Mike Ballard]

Workers Taking Overtime Issue to the Street
June 27, 2003

The Labor Department pulled the plug at the last
minute on
plans by unions and other groups to hold a public
hearing at the
department's headquarters attacking DOL's assault on
overtime
pay.
So, proclaiming "They Can't Silence Us," we are taking
to the
streets in front of the DOL's Francis Perkins Building
on June
30
to tell the public that near-secret actions by the
department
will
steal overtime pay coverage from at least 8 million
workers.

CWA members in the Washington, D.C., area are urged to
attend
the rally/news conference at noon on Monday, June 30
at the
entrance to the DOL building at 200 Constitution Ave.,
N.W. CWA
members and other workers will address the rally along
with
experts on overtime policy.

June 30 is the deadline for submitting public comments
on the
department's rewriting of the rules governing the Fair
Labor
Standards Act. Opponents of the devastating overtime
changes had
booked DOL's auditorium weeks ago, paying the usual
$250 fee to
use this public meeting space. But this week, when it
was
announced that the groups would be releasing a study
by the
Economic Policy Institute exposing the magnitude of
the assault
on
workers, DOL suddenly reneged and claimed they needed
the
auditorium that day for an internal meeting.

The EPI study estimates that at least 8 million
workers--most
of them office and technical workers--could lose their
right to
overtime pay under the pending FLSA revisions.
Employers could
use
new, vague criteria to classify workers as executives,
administrators, professionals or sales employees, who
earn as
little as $22,000 per year, thereby making them
ineligible for
overtime pay. They would still be required to work
extra hours,
but for free.

"The rule changes proposed by the Bush administration
would
make drastic changes to these tests (for overtime
eligibility),
vastly increasing the number of exempt employees and
making it
likely that millions of them will work longer hours at
reduced
pay," EPI said.

The report scoffs at the labor department's claim that
only
640,000 workers would lose overtime protection, saying
the DOL
"woefully underestimates" the number. CWA lawyer Mark
Wilson
said
he suspects the figure is even higher than EPI
estimates. "These
language changes are so vague and ambiguous that
virtually
anyone
could lose their right to overtime pay," he said.

Congress passed the FLSA in 1938, establishing the
40-hour
week and requiring overtime pay beyond that for most
workers.
The
DOL claims it's simply updating the rules to make it
easier for
employers to comply. Wilson said easing burdens on
employers has
never been the intention of the FLSA, instead it is
strictly
intended to protect workers. Overtime provisions of
the FLSA
were
meant to penalize employers to minimize forcing people
to work
long hours, with the two-fold purpose of creating jobs
and
halting
abusive conditions.

The full EPI report is available at www.epinet.org.

*************************

From: Nathaniel Miller <nathanielpmiller at yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2003 09:40:44 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Wob Contingent at July 4th protest in
Philadelphia

HelloWobs:

There will be an IWW contingent at the July 4th
demonstrations held in Philadelphia at the National
Constitution Center's opening ceremony.  We will meet
at the corner of 6th and Race at 10:00 AM, the morning
of July 4th.  

If you are interested in attending please contact me
(Nathaniel Miller):  nathanielpmiller at yahoo.com or
610-209-1447.
Our group will have a flier about the Bush
Administration's new overtime regulations, shorter
hours, and the IWW.

Please pass this message along to anyone who might be
interested.







=====
*****************************************************************
“How would we live?” He kept asking this question.  Of course, I wondered whether we  were doing anything more than merely existing.  I saw most of our work time as being  superfluous.  On the other hand, Fred’s need for things and creature comforts had grown  too much to be sustained by any reduction in our income.  Thus, spending our lives to obtain credits had become the norm.  

from WAGE-SLAVE'S ESCAPE

http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal

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