April 20, 2004

Overtime Pay


One of the things that makes our form of government really unique is that one part, the elected Representatives, sets both the policies and programs that government should carry out, and another part, the executive under the leadership of the President, does the carrying out.
Sometimes, of course, it turns out that what the Representatives want is an impossible task.  Then the executive comes back with recommendations about how the policies and programs ought to be changed in order to make them work.
That's not what the current Administration is about.  Most of the executive's "recommendations" to Congress are the result of disagreements.  That is, the President's men don't think they should do what they've been directed to do.  So, like a teenager who keeps violating his curfew, they are trying to change the rules.
But that's not all.  For some reason, the President's men don't like the rules that apply to other people either, especially when they protect the interests of the ordinary working man and woman.  Which is why they now want to deny millions of wage-earners of the opportunity to get paid over-time when they put in more hours a week than the usual forty.  It isn't enough that their corporate friends already save by paying their experienced workers time and a half, instead of hiring someone new to double the labor cost.
Maybe the idea behind this proposal is the assumption that, if people don't get paid, they won't work.  But I think it's more likely an effort to squeeze more out of workers at a time when the possibility of getting laid off is very real.  In any case, the executive's interference in labor relations smacks of relying on a new threat to distract people from its own miserable performance.

Posted by Hannah at April 20, 2004 07:11 PM
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