Cass Ballenger: “Last year Mr. Speaker, the AFL-CIO offered approximately 1,000 3-week summer internship jobs to college students, who…”

“Last year Mr. Speaker, the AFL-CIO offered approximately 1,000 3-week summer internship jobs to college students, who received a weekly stipend of $210 for their work. They called it the union summer. From press accounts it appeared that some of the students worked an average of 76 hours per week for an hourly rate of $2.76 per hour. This arrangement, if true, is a violation of the Federal wage and hour laws. In October 1996, I requested the Department of Labor to investigate these alleged violations. The Department of Labor said they are looking into the matter, but after numerous letters and telephone calls over the last 8 months, the Department refuses to provide me with specific information about the case. A new union summer program is under way right now in 1997, with thousands of college students participating around the country. The Department of Labor should do everything in its power to ensure that appropriate Federal wage and hour laws are fully enforced, regardless of the identity of the employer. I am continuing to press the Department of Labor to promptly report on its investigation because I fear that similar transgressions, if left unchecked, could occur again with this union summer program this summer.”