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CWA Helps Expose DOL's Overtime Scheme
A scheme within the Labor Department's overtime regulations designed to help employers at the expense of low-income workers finally made widespread national news this week, after months of efforts by CWA to raise the issue with reporters and politicians.
An Associated Press story based on an interview with CWA lawyer Mark Wilson, a specialist in Fair Labor Standards Act and overtime issues, was published in dozens of daily newspapers and led to further radio and TV reports.
At issue is the DOL's much-publicized claim that 1.3 million low-wage workers, now exempt from overtime because of supervisory duties, would be guaranteed overtime pay under the proposal.
In fact, as CWA has pointed out in news releases, CWA News stories and other outreach since last summer, the regulations spell out how employers can comply with the law without paying the workers anything extra. The DOL even provides a mathematical example, illustrating how to cut a worker's base pay to compensate for overtime hours.
"The workers don't get an extra dime under this abhorrent scheme," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "The Labor Department and this administration have said over and over that their plan will raise the salaries of 'vulnerable' workers when the truth, once again, is that corporate profits are their only real concern."
Republican leaders in Congress managed to kill efforts by Democrats and moderate Republicans late last year to stop the Labor Department from going forward with the regulatory changes, which could cost at least 8 million workers their overtime rights.
The fight in Congress isn't over, with concerned senators expected to rekindle their efforts to stop the proposal when they return to work Jan. 20. The growing media and public interest in the information CWA provided to the Associated Press is expected to put further pressure on lawmakers to act.
After the wire story ran, ABC News began working on a story that includes an interview with Wilson who also was interviewed by several radio stations. Other media outlets are also following up on the story, and several newspaper editorials and editorial cartoons blasted the Labor Department's scheme.
Several Democrat candidates for president jumped on the issue, spurring another round of media coverage. Sen. John Kerry said, "They're putting out a guideline to employers for the ways in which those employers can actually avoid their responsibility to workers - even as they are prepared to give people earning more than $200,000 a year another tax cut."
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean called the AP story "the most embarrassing newspaper article I've read about any politician in a long time," adding, "This is disgusting."
Sen. Joe Lieberman said, "Instead of doing whatever it takes to create jobs, it seems like George W. Bush is working overtime to make life harder for working families."
An Associated Press story based on an interview with CWA lawyer Mark Wilson, a specialist in Fair Labor Standards Act and overtime issues, was published in dozens of daily newspapers and led to further radio and TV reports.
At issue is the DOL's much-publicized claim that 1.3 million low-wage workers, now exempt from overtime because of supervisory duties, would be guaranteed overtime pay under the proposal.
In fact, as CWA has pointed out in news releases, CWA News stories and other outreach since last summer, the regulations spell out how employers can comply with the law without paying the workers anything extra. The DOL even provides a mathematical example, illustrating how to cut a worker's base pay to compensate for overtime hours.
"The workers don't get an extra dime under this abhorrent scheme," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "The Labor Department and this administration have said over and over that their plan will raise the salaries of 'vulnerable' workers when the truth, once again, is that corporate profits are their only real concern."
Republican leaders in Congress managed to kill efforts by Democrats and moderate Republicans late last year to stop the Labor Department from going forward with the regulatory changes, which could cost at least 8 million workers their overtime rights.
The fight in Congress isn't over, with concerned senators expected to rekindle their efforts to stop the proposal when they return to work Jan. 20. The growing media and public interest in the information CWA provided to the Associated Press is expected to put further pressure on lawmakers to act.
After the wire story ran, ABC News began working on a story that includes an interview with Wilson who also was interviewed by several radio stations. Other media outlets are also following up on the story, and several newspaper editorials and editorial cartoons blasted the Labor Department's scheme.
Several Democrat candidates for president jumped on the issue, spurring another round of media coverage. Sen. John Kerry said, "They're putting out a guideline to employers for the ways in which those employers can actually avoid their responsibility to workers - even as they are prepared to give people earning more than $200,000 a year another tax cut."
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean called the AP story "the most embarrassing newspaper article I've read about any politician in a long time," adding, "This is disgusting."
Sen. Joe Lieberman said, "Instead of doing whatever it takes to create jobs, it seems like George W. Bush is working overtime to make life harder for working families."