Now They Want to Take Away the 8-Hour Day and 40-Hour Week

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@gmail.com>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2013 10:58 AM
Subject: Re: Now They Want to Take Away the 8-Hour Day and 40-Hour Week


When I worked for the Department of Services for the Blind, employees on the
standard work week would be paid time and a half for anything over 40 hours
per week. This encouraged the management to make certain that no person
working the standard week put in more than 40 hours.
But for those of us lucky enough to rise to lofty management positions, it
was a different story. We were not covered by the employees union.
We were expected to complete our assigned duties, whether it took 40 hours
or 80 hours. We did keep track of "exchange time". This allowed us to
list, hour for hour, the overtime we worked. We could draw from this amount
when we took our annual leave, but that meant that our regular annual leave
would pile up. There was a limit as to how many hours you could bank in
annual leave before you had to use it or lose it. I think it was 480 hours.
Since we were never caught up with our assignments, most of the management
team allowed some of their annual leave time to fall off the books. And
none of us ever found time to take more than a day or two of that exchange
time that was piling up. I flew in the face of the director's expectations.
I took my annual leave time before losing it. Of course this meant working
extra hours and weekends to make up for the items left on my "to do" list
while I was off "playing around".
When I retired I was cashed out for 480 hours of annual leave plus that
year's annual leave, a total of something around 640 hours. I also was paid
25 cents on the dollar for my unused sick leave. We received 8 hours per
month, and I had something in the neighborhood of 840 hours piled up.
Of course this boosted my annual earning for the year straight up into a
much higher income bracket, for which I was privileged to pay taxes on.
And I lost over 2,000 hours of Exchange Time, which the state did not
reimburse for.
I will not bore anyone on this rant about what working under a contract
looks like, but suffice it to say that I am a strong promoter of Labor
Unions.

Carl Jarvis

----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
To: "'Blind Democracy Discussion List'" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 12, 2013 7:31 PM
Subject: Now They Want to Take Away the 8-Hour Day and 40-Hour Week



Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Now They Want to Take Away the 8-Hour Day and 40-Hour Week
________________________________________
Truthout / By Dave Johnson [1]

Now They Want to Take Away the 8-Hour Day and 40-Hour Week
May 9, 2013 |
Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission. View the original
article at TruthOut.org [2].
Republicans are trying to pass an "alternative" to overtime pay. This is
really about taking away the eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek. Will
weekends be next? What about an "alternative" to paying workers at all?
House Republicans are pushing a bill that takes away extra pay for overtime,
substituting "comp" time instead. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of
1938 is the law that brought us the eight-hour workday and the 40-hour
workweek. This law does not prohibit employers from requiring workers to
work over 40 hours. Instead, it gives employers an incentive to instead pay
extra or hire more people, and gives employees a premium if they do have to
work longer. (Note that this is also the law that brought us a minimum wage
and outlawed child labor.)
There is proof that overtime pay works: workers like domestic workers and
agricultural workers - jobs not covered by the FLSA - are twice as likely to
have to work more than 40 hours in a week. And even with this law, Americans
already work more hours than in almost any other industrialized country.
The Bill - No Guarantees
The House will be voting on H.R. 1406, The Working Families Flexibility Act,
which lets employers offer "comp time" instead of overtime pay. The problem
is that employers will pressure workers to take comp time instead of
overtime, which reduces paychecks and gets rid of the incentive to hire more
people. Later, the employees will be pressured to not take that comp time,
or will have to be "on call," etcetera.
It is important to note that the law does not guarantee workers the right to
actually use the comp time they get instead of extra pay. Employers can put
it off forever. You can't use this time when you want to, only when the
employer decides it is okay.
This really is a flat-out pay take-away, can't use it another day.
Eileen Appelbaum of the Center for Economic and Policy Research drives this
point home in her article "Working Families Flexibility Act: Not Good for
Working Parents and Bad for the Economy [3]," on The Huffington Post:
Employees cannot just take comp time when they need it. Rather, the bill
lets an employer who receives a request for comp time decide when the
employee gets to take it. The employer can even refuse the request and defer
it to a later time if, in the employer's view, letting the employee take
comp time will "unduly disrupt the operations of the employer."
Overtime Helps the Economy
We have a jobs emergency and Republicans are trying to get rid of one of the
laws that causes employers to hire more people. Go figure. When employers
require workers to work more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a
week, they have to pay more than the regular wage for that extra time. This
is a strong incentive to hire more people instead.
And when they don't hire more people, they pay a premium, which means
regular people have more money to spend. Either way, it helps the economy.
And of course, it really, really helps those workers.
Last year, USA Today took a look at overtime pay [4]and found that
productivity was rising, but as a result of squeezing workers for more
hours. But employers were calling these workers "managers" to get out of
paying overtime - and to get out of hiring more people.
The National Partnership for Women and Families has a fact sheet titled, "An
Empty Promise: The Working Families Flexibility Act Would Give Workers Less
Flexibility and Less Pay [4]." It begins:
Despite its name, the Cantor/Roby Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013
sets up a dangerous false choice between time and money, when working
families really need both. The bill does not promote family friendly or
flexible workplaces. Instead, it would erode hourly workers' ability to make
ends meet, plan for family time and have predictability, stability and true
flexibility at work.
People Died to Get Overtime Pay
Leo Gerard points out that people died to get a 40-hour week, writing at
Campaign for America's Future in "GOP Forcibly Making Working Families
Flexible [5]": "Trade unionists and labor rights activists died to achieve
the goal of eight-hour days and 40-hour weeks. They were shot and beaten in
the streets during demonstrations organized by the eight-hour movement [6].
Their slogan was: "Eight hours for work; eight hours for rest; eight hours
for what we will."
Veto Threat
President Obama issued a statement saying he will veto this bill [7] if it
is sent to him. The statement explains that this bill "undermines the
existing right to hard-earned overtime pay, on which many working families
rely to make ends meet, while misrepresenting itself as a workplace
flexibility measure that gives power to employees over their own schedules."
If Congress wants to help working people and their families, they should
instead raise the minimum wage, fund enforcement of laws against wage theft
and other employer pay-stealing scams, and make it easier to join unions.
That would show that they mean it. Taking away the 40-hour work week and
giving it a nice-sounding name like Working Family Flexibility just does not
cut it.
See more stories tagged with:
eight-hour workday [8],
leo gerard [9],
labor rights [10],
Trade union [11],
campaign for americas future [12],
H.R. 1406 [13],
national partnership for women and families flexibility act [14],
Working Families Flexibility Act [15],
comp time [16],
employment [17],
Center for Economic and Policy Research [18],
Eileen Appelbaum [19],
40 hour work week [20],
house republicans [21],
fair labor standards act [22],
1938 [23],
alternative overtime pay [24]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/now-they-want
-take-away-8-hour-day-and-40-hour-week
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/dave-johnson
[2]
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/16238-now-they-want-to-take-away-the-8-ho
ur-day-and-40-hour-week
[3]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eileen-appelbaum/working-families-flexibility-
act_b_3054913.html
[4]
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/DocServer/NPWF_Fact_Sheet_-_An_Empty
_Promise_The_Working_Families_.pdf?docID=12461
[5]
http://blog.ourfuture.org/20130507/gop-forcibly-making-working-families-flex
ible
[6] http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&amp;psid=3192
[7]
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/113/saphr1
406r_20130506.pdf
[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/eight-hour-workday
[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/leo-gerard
[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/labor-rights
[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/trade-union
[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/campaign-americas-future-1
[13] http://www.alternet.org/tags/hr-1406
[14]
http://www.alternet.org/tags/national-partnership-women-and-families-flexibi
lity-act
[15] http://www.alternet.org/tags/working-families-flexibility-act
[16] http://www.alternet.org/tags/comp-time
[17] http://www.alternet.org/tags/employment-0
[18] http://www.alternet.org/tags/center-economic-and-policy-research
[19] http://www.alternet.org/tags/eileen-appelbaum
[20] http://www.alternet.org/tags/40-hour-work-week
[21] http://www.alternet.org/tags/house-republicans
[22] http://www.alternet.org/tags/fair-labor-standards-act
[23] http://www.alternet.org/tags/1938
[24] http://www.alternet.org/tags/alternative-overtime-pay
[25] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Now They Want to Take Away the 8-Hour Day and 40-Hour Week

Truthout / By Dave Johnson [1]
Now They Want to Take Away the 8-Hour Day and 40-Hour Week
May 9, 2013 |
Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission. View the original
article at TruthOut.org [2].
Republicans are trying to pass an "alternative" to overtime pay. This is
really about taking away the eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek. Will
weekends be next? What about an "alternative" to paying workers at all?
House Republicans are pushing a bill that takes away extra pay for overtime,
substituting "comp" time instead. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of
1938 is the law that brought us the eight-hour workday and the 40-hour
workweek. This law does not prohibit employers from requiring workers to
work over 40 hours. Instead, it gives employers an incentive to instead pay
extra or hire more people, and gives employees a premium if they do have to
work longer. (Note that this is also the law that brought us a minimum wage
and outlawed child labor.)
There is proof that overtime pay works: workers like domestic workers and
agricultural workers - jobs not covered by the FLSA - are twice as likely to
have to work more than 40 hours in a week. And even with this law, Americans
already work more hours than in almost any other industrialized country.
The Bill - No Guarantees
The House will be voting on H.R. 1406, The Working Families Flexibility Act,
which lets employers offer "comp time" instead of overtime pay. The problem
is that employers will pressure workers to take comp time instead of
overtime, which reduces paychecks and gets rid of the incentive to hire more
people. Later, the employees will be pressured to not take that comp time,
or will have to be "on call," etcetera.
It is important to note that the law does not guarantee workers the right to
actually use the comp time they get instead of extra pay. Employers can put
it off forever. You can't use this time when you want to, only when the
employer decides it is okay.
This really is a flat-out pay take-away, can't use it another day.
Eileen Appelbaum of the Center for Economic and Policy Research drives this
point home in her article "Working Families Flexibility Act: Not Good for
Working Parents and Bad for the Economy [3]," on The Huffington Post:
Employees cannot just take comp time when they need it. Rather, the bill
lets an employer who receives a request for comp time decide when the
employee gets to take it. The employer can even refuse the request and defer
it to a later time if, in the employer's view, letting the employee take
comp time will "unduly disrupt the operations of the employer."
Overtime Helps the Economy
We have a jobs emergency and Republicans are trying to get rid of one of the
laws that causes employers to hire more people. Go figure. When employers
require workers to work more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a
week, they have to pay more than the regular wage for that extra time. This
is a strong incentive to hire more people instead.
And when they don't hire more people, they pay a premium, which means
regular people have more money to spend. Either way, it helps the economy.
And of course, it really, really helps those workers.
Last year, USA Today took a look at overtime pay [4]and found that
productivity was rising, but as a result of squeezing workers for more
hours. But employers were calling these workers "managers" to get out of
paying overtime - and to get out of hiring more people.
The National Partnership for Women and Families has a fact sheet titled, "An
Empty Promise: The Working Families Flexibility Act Would Give Workers Less
Flexibility and Less Pay [4]." It begins:
Despite its name, the Cantor/Roby Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013
sets up a dangerous false choice between time and money, when working
families really need both. The bill does not promote family friendly or
flexible workplaces. Instead, it would erode hourly workers' ability to make
ends meet, plan for family time and have predictability, stability and true
flexibility at work.
People Died to Get Overtime Pay
Leo Gerard points out that people died to get a 40-hour week, writing at
Campaign for America's Future in "GOP Forcibly Making Working Families
Flexible [5]": "Trade unionists and labor rights activists died to achieve
the goal of eight-hour days and 40-hour weeks. They were shot and beaten in
the streets during demonstrations organized by the eight-hour movement [6].
Their slogan was: "Eight hours for work; eight hours for rest; eight hours
for what we will."
Veto Threat
President Obama issued a statement saying he will veto this bill [7] if it
is sent to him. The statement explains that this bill "undermines the
existing right to hard-earned overtime pay, on which many working families
rely to make ends meet, while misrepresenting itself as a workplace
flexibility measure that gives power to employees over their own schedules."
If Congress wants to help working people and their families, they should
instead raise the minimum wage, fund enforcement of laws against wage theft
and other employer pay-stealing scams, and make it easier to join unions.
That would show that they mean it. Taking away the 40-hour work week and
giving it a nice-sounding name like Working Family Flexibility just does not
cut it.
See more stories tagged with:
eight-hour workday [8],
leo gerard [9],
labor rights [10],
Trade union [11],
campaign for americas future [12],
H.R. 1406 [13],
national partnership for women and families flexibility act [14],
Working Families Flexibility Act [15],
comp time [16],
employment [17],
Center for Economic and Policy Research [18],
Eileen Appelbaum [19],
40 hour work week [20],
house republicans [21],
fair labor standards act [22],
1938 [23],
alternative overtime pay [24]

Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/corporate-accountability-and-workplace/now-they-want
-take-away-8-hour-day-and-40-hour-week
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/dave-johnson
[2]
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/16238-now-they-want-to-take-away-the-8-ho
ur-day-and-40-hour-week
[3]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eileen-appelbaum/working-families-flexibility-
act_b_3054913.html
[4]
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/DocServer/NPWF_Fact_Sheet_-_An_Empty
_Promise_The_Working_Families_.pdf?docID=12461
[5]
http://blog.ourfuture.org/20130507/gop-forcibly-making-working-families-flex
ible
[6] http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&amp;psid=3192
[7]
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/sap/113/saphr1
406r_20130506.pdf
[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/eight-hour-workday
[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/leo-gerard
[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/labor-rights
[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/trade-union
[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/campaign-americas-future-1
[13] http://www.alternet.org/tags/hr-1406
[14]
http://www.alternet.org/tags/national-partnership-women-and-families-flexibi
lity-act
[15] http://www.alternet.org/tags/working-families-flexibility-act
[16] http://www.alternet.org/tags/comp-time
[17] http://www.alternet.org/tags/employment-0
[18] http://www.alternet.org/tags/center-economic-and-policy-research
[19] http://www.alternet.org/tags/eileen-appelbaum
[20] http://www.alternet.org/tags/40-hour-work-week
[21] http://www.alternet.org/tags/house-republicans
[22] http://www.alternet.org/tags/fair-labor-standards-act
[23] http://www.alternet.org/tags/1938
[24] http://www.alternet.org/tags/alternative-overtime-pay
[25] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

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