Bob Menendez: “Mr. Speaker, what are we doing here today? What we are doing is reducing our workers to the status of serfs. Employers…”

“Mr. Speaker, what are we doing here today? What we are doing is reducing our workers to the status of serfs. Employers do not own employees or their time. The wisdom of the 40-hour work week is not the amount of time, but that time over and above 40 hours is the worker's; and imposition on it must be paid for. Mr. Speaker, comp time is not giving employees an option as described in this bill. It is taking away rights from workers, taking money from their pockets, and food from their children's mouths. It is the unlawful seizure of the workers' time. The employers are not giving the worker anything in this bill by providing comp time. It is not time the employer is entitled to give. H.R. 1 is capping wages as a salary limit and giving nothing in return. It masks employers' inefficiencies in managing the work force at the expense of employees. It will be abused. Do not kid yourself. In the workplace there is not, and never has been, equality in negotiating position. Even the strongest complaint procedure, which is not present in H.R. 1, is practically unavailable to a minimum wage worker or even a middle class worker. Who can afford to await the result of an administrative action against an employer who will have them fired in the interim? Put yourself in the worker's position. Two hours a day without overtime effectively reduces wages by 25 percent.”