OT, but very important to those who work ANY overtime..........

[Kitty C.]

I've already signed this petition and got this response.  I urge any of you who value your overtime to sign it also.  With this enactment, many fathers who depended on that OT income just to LIVE will be destitute.

Sorry, SPG, but this is just another flagrant example of how Bush is systematically destroying families.  First the immigrant deal, now this.  Is nothing sacred to him??  Because if he truly cared about families, more than big business, he WOULDN'T do this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Working Families e-Activist:

Last week we reported to you that the Bush overtime pay take-away is likely to be finalized by President Bush and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao before the end of March. An announcement could come as soon as this Friday.

Now, President Bush's top political allies are attacking efforts to protect overtime pay. They're pressuring television stations not to run TV ads paid for by the MoveOn.org Voter Fund that are critical of Bush's overtime pay take-away. They don't want you to hear what's about to happen to the paychecks of millions of America's workers.

It's more important than ever that you reach out to your friends, family and co-workers to let them know about the Bush overtime pay take-away. Please ask them to sign the Petition to Save Overtime Pay at the link below.
http://www.saveovertimepay.org/

Overtime pay is critical to the well-being of millions of working families--and the Bush administration's paycheck heist must be exposed. You have done a great job of keeping this issue alive. Senators and representatives in Congress have voted right on this issue under pressure from you. Now, the goal is to get the word out to people who haven't signed the petition or haven't heard about what is going on. That is how we'll win.

Please send an e-mail to your friends, family and co-workers. Ask them to sign the Petition to Save Overtime Pay at the link below.
http://www.saveovertimepay.org/

We also suggest you send a short note to other e-mail lists you are on. For example, there may be an e-mail list in your community that allows you to post messages. Think about e-mail lists you are on through a sports team, a hobby club—any way you have access to groups of people who need the opportunity to protect workers' paychecks. These lists are opportunities for you to spread the word. Please forward a note with a link to the petition website.
http://www.saveovertimepay.org/

You can also download a printable petition form to circulate in your workplace, neighborhood or community. Please get as many signatures as you can.
http://www.saveovertimepay.org/petition.htm

The petition has been a huge success. Since last week's update, more than 50,000 new people have signed the Petition to Save Overtime Pay. That only happened because of the outreach you did to protect good jobs and good paychecks. Let's keep it going!

Thanks for all you do. Look for another update soon.


In Solidarity,


Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
March 9, 2004


P.S. Here is a news story about the Republican National Committee's attack on MoveOn's overtime pay TV ads.
Read the article >>


You can check out the full MoveOn Voter Fund TV ad at the link below (RealPlayer required).
View the ad >>

 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

[hisliltulip]

Doesn't affect my pay structure, but it could kill my DH's.

[StPaulieGirl]

Don't be sorry, I appreciate the heads up.   I looked through the links provided.  I know that some positions are salary and therefore exempt from overtime.  I'm going to have to check this out, because it seems that the "exempt fom overtime" criteria is being expanded under this legislation to include more positions?  Like I said I'm going to have to really read this one.....and pass it on.

Christ, you can't trust anyone these days.  

[Madrone]

This is kind of "old news" - but here are a variety of links with more information:

http://www.aflcio.org/yourjobeconomy/overtimepay/

http://money.cnn.com/2003/06/26/news/economy/epi/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/11/politics/main562735.shtml

http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/overtimeinfo.html

http://content.salary.monster.com/articles/overtimechange/Index.asp

http://www.theaxcess.net/money_22_1103.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48243-2004Jan1?language=printer

[StPaulieGirl]

This proposal is so wrong.  For example, "administrative, professional, and executive" are subjective titles.  At one telemarketing job that I had, we were called "phone consultants", and worked 30 hours a week so that they could avoid having to offer us benefits.  Weasel words.

You know, all this depends on the employer.  The employer can choose to screw their employees, or treat them fairly.  We've already seen the loyalty shown to US workers.  The factories are gone, and any job that can be shipped off to India, will be, or already has.  

I wonder if WalMart has been lining someone's pockets?  They've already been busted for making employees clock out and then continue working.  This is the kind of legislation that crooks just love.

Oh yeah, let's tie this in to Bush's proposal for employers to sponsor "guest workers" to do the jobs that Americans won't do.  I can totally see this scenario.  Boss to worker:, "I need you in on Saturday and Sunday, because as you know, we have just laid off half the workforce.  What do you mean, you have a weekend job to offset your loss of overtime pay???  Well if you can't do the job, I'll find someone who will".  

Never underestimate a greedy, money grubbing asshole of a boss.

Will it even do any good to email anyone?

[Madrone]

 It can't hurt, although a phone call, or snail mail letter will probably get more attention.

 Emails are ignored more than an actual handwritten letter, or so I've heard.

[StPaulieGirl]

Well I'm trying to keep the phone bill down, but I think I can write a few politicians, and the President.  It's almost like Bush is deliberately sabotogating his reelection...

[Kitty C.]

That's why I work for the state and joined the union.  Many have asked me why I waste the money, so I ask them why they purchase health, life, or car insurance.  Of course, it's to protect you when something happens.  Belonging to a union is JOB INSURANCE, if you've got the right one.  Without it, we wouldn't have MANY of the benefits we currently have, of which we fought tooth and nail for.  And every time we renegotiate the contrat, they try to take as much of it away that they possibly can.

Then there's DH's union, who sound like nothing but a pack of jackels.  They've actually made it worse for DH and his co-workers.  They just got the union in there a few years ago, but apparently they didn't pick very wisely.

[StPaulieGirl]

Did you hear about the grocery workers strike here in CA?  

The workers got hosed.  Apparently the grocery stores felt that they are losing money due to Costco and Sam's Club undercutting them.  To offset this, they wanted to create a different pay tier for new hires, and to also increase employees contributions towards their family's health benefits to approximately 60 dollars a month for a typical family.

I honestly didn't think these were unfair requests.  The Union voted to strike, and these people are worse off now than they were.  The agreement was finally struck after 4 months.  I was in line and saw a checker that I recognized and welcomed her back.  She looked like she aged ten years.  This really hurt people, and in the end the stores requests were accepted.  If they had done that in the first place, people wouldn't have been screwed.  Imagine 4 months on strike pay.  You can't take a temp job, I don't think you can get unemployment benefits.

My ex hates unions.  IIRC, his father was in the Teamsters.  They went on strike every year...according to my ex.  Strike pay was a joke, so they ended up eating dinner at all the relatives homes. They ate bread and jelly for breakfast and lunch...also according to my ex.  My dad was in the Postal Workers Union.  I remember we prayed (I was maybe 7)that their strike would be averted.  My dad didn't agree with the union demands, and had planned to cross the line if they went on strike.  Yikes!  He was in his late 50's at the time.

I hear what you're saying about job insurance, though.  There isn't a lot of that these days.  Bush gave an impressive speech in Ohio recently.  It's on the White House website.  I think I'm getting the impression that a lot of this is union busting tactics.  He had a lot to say about entreprenurial spirit, and starting small businesses, retraining for the jobs in the 21st century.  He didn't address age discrimination in hiring displaced workers though.

Then there is the spectre of "guest workers".  I think the government just needs to get out of everything but what is absolutely necessary to run a country.

[Kitty C.]

But as a state employee (and per state code) we cannot strike, we must use collective bargaining.

This is the way I see it in regards to the grocery workers (and anyone else who strikes).  They had NO choice but to strike.  If they would have accepted the offer at the get-go, the owners would have presumed, and rightly so, that any other negotiation in the future would be a roll-over.  They rule and negotiate by intimidation.

The state puts our backs to the wall every time we renegotiate.  They walk a very fine line in acting in good faith.  We got the union in here way back in the 70's and prior to that, NO ONE wanted to work for this institution, or any other state one for that matter.  At least now, we're not getting royally screwed.  But it's gotten to the point that all we're doing is fighting like hell just to keep what we've got, but the state wants to continue to balance the budget on the backs of the state workers.

I've seen businesses like those grocers make things look like they're 'doing the best' for their employees, but what you don't see is their refusal to look within the organization to see where operations could be run differently or cheaper.  The first place these places always look to cut is with their employees.

I hate DH's union, as it's so tranparent that the only reason they are there is to rake in the dues.  They've gotten screwed on some benefits, too.  But now that they are a union shop, they cannot get rid of it.  I told DH that they ouhgt to seriously consider looking at others, because they are all being taken for a ride.

SPG, we could go on all day about the pluses and minuses of unions, but they and the organizations they work with are no different than any other human, some are good and some bad.  For as hard as my union fights for my rights, I wouldn't want to be without them.  But DH's ain't worth a plug nickel.  We have opposite scenarios here:  with me, it's a great union and a poor employer and with DH, it's just the opposite.