Protect Overtime Pay

The Senate debate on President Bush's overtime pay cuts is under way and a vote is expected any day. We know you may have acted before, but your contact with your senators is needed urgently. In response to the 100,000 letters sent so far by people like you, the Bush White House has just threatened to VETO LEGISLATION TO PROTECT OVERTIME PAY. To save overtime pay, the 40-hour workweek and the weekend, we need you to counter veto power with people power. Click below to fax your senators: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/septovertime/dxnn8av5wmw

This is the most important chance we've had to block the overtime pay cuts before they go into effect. The overtime pay cuts proposed by the Bush administration could take away overtime pay from at least 8 million workers. Overtime pay protections are the heart of the 40-hour workweek--and even the weekend. Without them, employers would have no reason to treat workers fairly--they could require longer and longer days without paying workers extra for their overtime hours.

The Bush overtime pay take-away would save employers billions--right from workers' paychecks. They would allow employers to do almost anything they want by blurring the rules for overtime eligibility.

The Bush administration changes could make large numbers of workers who have job-related training ineligible for overtime. Health care, technical, computer, law enforcement, firefighting and skilled trades training could cost workers their right to overtime pay. This is completely outrageous and we need to stop it.
Tell your friends, family and co-workers: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/septovertime/forward/dxnn8av5wmw

The overtime pay takeaway won't just hit workers in the pocket. According to the Economic Policy Institute, "The millions of employees who will see their pay reduced will, in all likelihood, see their hours of work increase at the same time. Once employers are not required to pay for overtime work, they will schedule more of it."

Tens of millions of working families depend on overtime pay. Please act today.

Thanks for all you do. --------------------------------------------------

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Working Families e-Activist Network at:

http://www.unionvoice.org/wfean/join.html?r=Bdq1a1s1xpzAE

.... DaveG, 9/4/03

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Amendment to Ban Private Prisons in Florida

"The Florida PBA has filed a constitutional amendment petition with the Florida Secretary of State that would ban the privatization of correction and probation services in Florida . This amendment, if passed, would be the deathblow to the for-profit private prison industry in Florida."

For more information on The Florida Police Benevolent Association's Amendment to Ban Private Prisons in Florida and instructions for signing their petition: http://www.flpba.org/  and click on Crime Shouldn't Pay.

Also Privatization Watch: http://www.flpba.org/private/index_private.html  
See also:
http://www.flpba.org/crimeshouldn%27tpay.html#TOP
http://www.flpba.org/pics/CA%20Petition%20Form.pdf

.... PaulM, from http://tallahassee.indymedia.org/newswire/display/1857/index.php

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Call for an independent commission on WMD intelligence

We're writing to thank you, and to ask for your help.

Three weeks ago, you began asking Congress to make the President tell the truth about his case for war. Since then, even more disturbing facts have come to light regarding the President's truthfulness. In the major media and around the country, we hear a growing concern that the Bush administration may have misled us in the rush to war.

We want to thank you for your willingness to take a stand on this issue in a climate in which taking a stand is sometimes labeled unpatriotic. You know as well as we do that true patriots do what's best for our country, and for the legacy we'll leave our children, not just for their political party. We're proud to tell you that the Democrats in the Senate have heard your concern: we're taking a stand too.

That's why we need your help. Very soon, probably today or tomorrow, the Senate will vote on whether to create an independent commission to investigate the President's possible deception. The vote will come in the form of an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill, which is being debated now.

We'll need every last vote to win. Please take a moment right now to call your Senators and tell them how important it is that we get to the bottom of this with an independent investigatory commission.

You can reach your Senators at:
   Senator Bob Graham
   DC Phone: 202-224-3041

   Senator Bill Nelson
   DC Phone: 202-224-5274

Please report back when you've taken action at:
http://www.moveon.org/callmade3.html?id=1518-137723-XLwl3IxR8UNduOjiwA608A

With your support, Democrats are now coming together to demand answers. Yet President Bush and his officials are still showing that they're not willing to level with the American people.

Please call our colleagues in the Senate today, and ask them to push for a full, independent investigation of the President's claims on Iraq. By joining our efforts on Capitol Hill with your activism across America, we can make sure that the truth comes out.

Sincerely,
Senator Jon Corzine & Senator Debbie Stabenow  7/16/03

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Support the Harkin amendment to save overtime rights

Tens of thousands of AFSCME members are at risk of losing overtime rights under the proposed Department of Labor regulations. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) will offer an amendment to the Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations bill that would prevent the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from issuing any regulation that takes away workers overtime rights.

We expect that the Harkin Amendment will be offered during the week of July 14th, probably on Wednesday, July 16th or Thursday, July 17th.

Click here to e-mail your Senators and tell them to support the Harkin amendment and protect our overtime rights: http://capwiz.com/afscme/issues/alert/?alertid=2842116&type=CO

Additional information on the overtime proposals

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires public and private sector employers to compensate their workers for every hour worked over forty at a rate of time and a half. Workers in the public sector may elect to take their earned overtime in the form of pay or comp time. Workers in the private sector always receive their earned overtime in the form of pay.

On March 31, 2003, the Bush Administration proposed new regulations that would eliminate the right to receive overtime, whether in the form of pay or comp time. Tens of thousands of AFSCME members and approximately eight million workers nationwide will be stripped of their statutory right to receive overtime at a rate of time and a half for every hour worked over forty in a seven day week

The regulations pertain to professional, administrative, and executive exemptions, which are commonly referred to as the "white collar" exemptions and govern minimum wage and overtime pay requirements in both public and private sector workplaces. DOL's changes would make it much easier for employers to reclassify workers more broadly as "white collar" employees ineligible for overtime.

Workers likely to lose their eligibility for overtime pay work include mid-level office workers, secretaries, licensed practical nurses and dental hygienists, firefighters, policemen and women, EMT's, paramedics, cooks, paralegals, engineering and health technicians, dieticians, social workers, administrative and computer support, and lower-level supervisors. AFSCME members working at highly skilled jobs in such departments as human resources, labor relations, budget, and planning could lose the right to overtime pay.

The DOL proposal would force workers to work longer hours with no extra pay or time off. Millions of workers depend on overtime pay to make ends meet, and in 2000 overtime pay accounted for about 25% of the income of workers who worked overtime. Many public sector workers depend on their comp time in order to care for their children and elderly parents. Workers stripped of their overtime protection would end up working longer hours for less pay.

The AFL-CIO also has excellent information on this issue at:

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

... posted by www.afscmefl.org

More on this:

July 15, 2003

You may have heard the news. An opportunity to block President Bush's drive to take away overtime pay from millions of Americans has just come up. Before the end of July we need to tell Congress to block the Bush overtime cuts. We lost the vote in the U.S. House on this last Thursday but we have another chance when the Senate considers an effort to block Bush's overtime cuts. More than 8 million people are slated to LOSE THEIR OVERTIME PAY in the coming months.

Here is what is needed in the next couple of weeks:

First, please click on the link below to SEND A FAX to your senators and representative with a copy to President Bush. Tell them to act to repeal the Bush overtime take away. http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/senateOTrider/dxnn8z9j8id

Second, E-MAIL YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CO-WORKERS and ask them to get involved and help stop these pay cuts. Click on the link below to send them a message.

Or, cut and paste the following link into your own e-mail: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/senateOTrider/

(This might make it easier to send the link and a message to lots of people in your e-mail address book.)

We know these overtime cuts will impact millions of people. Here are some of the problems with the Bush overtime changes:

+ People with training or education that helps them do their jobs, including military training, skills training, medical training, law enforcement training, fire rescue training and more, could be automatically excluded from getting overtime.

+ The Bush administration will change the rules that determine who is and isn't an overtime-ineligible supervisor and cut overtime for millions. People who make $22,100 could more easily be classified by the Department of Labor as executives and lose all of their overtime pay. An executive who makes $22,100?

+ Not a single public hearing on this issue has been held or even scheduled by the Bush administration. The public has been able to comment only through our outreach and your activism.

Learn more about recent developments in the fight to protect overtime pay by clicking on the link below. http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/3dq1a1s1dpak/