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Overtime Fight Nears End; Democrats Launch Last-Ditch Attempt to Thwart Damaging Regulation

November 25, 2003

Even after bipartisan majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives rejected new Administration-backed overtime regulations for their expected impact on workers, President Bush may have won a clear path to implement the new rules anyway. As millions of workers stand likely to lose a vital source of income in a matter of weeks, one last attempt is under way in the Senate to avert the implementation of the new rules.

An amendment by Senator Tom Harkin would allow the Administration to update overtime pay regulations but would block its efforts to strip away overtime protection from up to eight million workers. To highlight the issue, the AFL-CIO on December 1 will launch a week-long Overtime National Week of Action during which activists will be asked to send E-mail to House and Senate representatives and spread the word to friends, families and co-workers. Click here to join the Working Families e-Activist network.

A presidential veto threat forced Senate opponents of the proposal to abandon a showdown November 21 over the $284 billion spending bill that largely funds the federal government through next fall. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who had been holding out against the regulations, capitulated when it became clear the White House refused to compromise. Now the U.S. Department of Labor has the go-ahead to make the most sweeping changes to the 40-hour work week since the Federal Labor Standards Act was created in 1938.

"Against the will of the majority of the House and Senate, the president has attempted to railroad eight million workers who depend on overtime for their economic survival," said IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill. "His tactics and his disregard for hard working Americans will not be forgotten on election day next year."

Today, employers are required to pay time-and-a-half to eligible workers if they log more than 40 hours a week; overtime comprises a quarter of the average weekly earning of those who receive it. The rule change could result in millions of workers ceasing to be paid for the same hours on the joball at a time when many Americans are struggling to make ends meet.

Analysts have said the changes would threaten overtime pay in professional and technical fieldsthe employment sectors growing faster than any other major occupational group. And by reclassifying workers as executive or administrative, it would exempt whole categories of workers who were formerly eligible for the time-and-a-half pay.

"Plainly, President Bush is offering tax cuts for the rich and pay cuts for hourly workers," President Hill said. "His true motives are exposed in actions like these."

House Says No to Overtime Overhaul... October 6, 2003

Senate Says No to Overtime Regs... September 17, 2003

Bill Would Nix Overtime Rules... July 14, 2003

Hundreds Rally For Overtime... July 1, 2003

DOL Targets Overtime Pay... June 26, 2003

Labor Prevails to Defeat Comp Time Legislation... June 11, 2003

Overtime Rules Menace Workers Nationwide... May 30, 2003

Bush Proposes Changing Federal Overtime Rules... April 2, 2003

Overtime Pay... U.S. Department of Labor

The Dark Side of Wal-Mart... April 2003 Journal