Cord Byrd: “after reading about the Bush administration's proposed rules with regard to overtime pay, there should be no question…”

“after reading about the Bush administration's proposed rules with regard to overtime pay, there should be no question that American workers are under assault by the Bush administration. The Denver Post reports that since President Bush's election in 2000, the Labor Department has repealed 41 worker-safety regulations in development, including two aimed at addressing hazardous chemical dangers. Within 2 months of taking office, President Bush sought to repeal the Labor Department's ergonomic standard to prevent repetitive stress injuries, and has issued four Executive orders to curb the rights of labor unions. It is not enough that the Bush administration has sought to prevent Federal workers from unionizing or that the White House has blocked an increase in the minimum wage. It is not enough that over 3 million jobs have been lost under the Bush administration's watch or that over 9 million workers are unemployed. The administration now wants to take away the right of millions of workers to receive overtime pay. America's workers should be very concerned about the overtime changes being proposed by the Bush administration. These rule changes would force workers in executive, administrative, and technical fields to labor for longer hours and could make as many as 8 million salaried and hourly workers, many of whom have grown to depend upon overtime pay, ineligible for it.”