Cord Byrd: “it is appropriate on a trade bill such as the one now pending before the Senate, that we, at long last, engage in a…”

“it is appropriate on a trade bill such as the one now pending before the Senate, that we, at long last, engage in a debate about the standard of living for American workers. The establishment of the 40-hour work week and a worker's right to overtime pay in 1938, fulfilled President Franklin Roosevelt's promise to workers to end starvation wages and intolerable working hours. That same year, President Roosevelt called it ``the most far-reaching, far-sighted program for the benefit of workers ever adopted here or in any other country.'' It is unsettling to watch, 55 years later, as a successor to President Roosevelt seeks to limit the scope of that far-reaching legislation. President Bush's overtime rule promotes a thoroughly un-American notion of fair compensation for some, but not for all. Through its overtime rule, the Bush administration has sought to dictate who will receive overtime pay and who will not. It has sought to dictate whose extra work will be recognized and valued and whose will not. While guaranteeing overtime pay for some workers, the Bush administration rule would take it away from registered nurses, nursery school teachers, cooks and chefs, and employees of the financial services industries. It would take overtime away from insurance claims adjusters; sales representatives; and computer network, Internet, and data base administrators.”