Not much time left to protect overtime pay
The second installment in the Fallen series will appear tomorrow, but today we have an urgent message for all readers on a familiar topic: overtime pay. Even though both the House and Senate voted in 2003 to preserve the right to overtime pay for millions of workers, last-minute back-room wheeling and dealing caused that provision to be deleted from the final version of the current appropriations bill. We have just one more chance to get the overtime-pay protection back into the bill: the Senate will vote on the measure on Tuesday, Jan. 20. If we win there, then the battle goes back to the House. If we lose there, the fight goes on to the White House -- that's the source of the plan to change regulations that have been in place for nearly 70 years. The Labor Department is scheduled to change those regulations, without so much as a vote or a hearing, in March.
So it's up to us: click here to send a message to your two senators, with a copy to Mr. Bush. Urge your senators to join the efforts of their pro-labor colleagues to filibuster if necessary to preserve the right to overtime pay for millions of workers. A filibuster could have some beneficial side effects as well: we need all the hot air we can get to fight off the current cold spell.
After you contact your senators, don't forget to sign the e-petition to protect overtime pay. So far, more than 280,000 people have signed.
Remember, overtime work is not threatened by these changes, just compensation for that work. If you'd rather not put in extra hours for no extra pay, speak up while there's still time.
posted by Janet Dagley Dagley @5:00 PM
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16.1.04 |
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