(The AFL-CIO issued the following statement by John Sweeney on July 9.)
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration’s attack on overtime pay for millions of American workers has alarmed lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. We applaud Congressmen Peter King (R-NY) and George Miller (D-CA) for their efforts to protect workers from this assault by introducing legislation that would prohibit the Department of Labor from stripping American workers of their overtime pay.
The legislation effectively would block the Department of Labor from amending the Fair Labor Standards Act to reclassify workers such as police officers, nurses, store supervisors and many other American workers as exempt from overtime pay. Under the King-Miller bill, the Department could still update and modernize the criteria or “duties” tests used to determine overtime pay, but could not make changes that would deny workers overtime protection. The legislation is a crucial step in protecting the 40-hour workweek and overtime pay for working families who depend on this extra income to pay their bills.
We wholeheartedly support this legislation, which would block Bush’s outrageous assault on workers’ overtime pay, and encourage working families to contact their representatives today to urge them to support the King-Miller bill.