...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Friday, April 11, 2003
      ( 12:05 PM )
 
Despite the Fact You're Barely Making Enough To Survive, Bush Wants to Take Away Your Overtime Pay

From working for change activism, this news appears today:

The Bush administration has proposed changing federal overtime rules and eroding the 40-hour workweek—reducing overtime protections and cutting the pay of hundreds of thousands of America's workers.

With a failing economy, millions out of work and staggering health care and prescription drug costs, this is a burden America's workers should NOT have to bear. The overtime rules protect workers from bosses who would impose unbearably long hours if they didn't have to pay extra for overtime work. Many workers would have less predictable work schedules because of the increased demand for overtime work.

Working families struggled for years to win the 40-hour workweek, the weekend and other job protections like this.

The Bush overtime reform proposal:

- Excludes previously protected workers by reclassifying them as managers, administrative or professional employees who are not eligible for overtime pay;
- Fails to automatically include large numbers of low-income workers;
- For the first time, excludes certain middle-income workers from overtime protections by adding an income test;
- Removes from overtime protection large numbers of workers in the aerospace, defense, health care, high tech and various other industries;
- Makes schedules less predictable for some working moms and dads;
- Proposes confusing standards for low-income supervisors.

Now that's what I call a plan to HELP the economy.

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