Seven House dems, including Gephardt, missed the vote on guaranteed overtime pay. The measure, which passed 213-210, would deny overtime pay to between 1 million and 8 million American workers. Kucinich was present for the vote and voted against it.
". . . Under the new rules, backed by the Bush administration and campaigned for heavily by business lobbyists, those employees would still have to put in extra hours. They just wouldn't get any extra pay. Instead, some would qualify for comp time—try paying the rent with that—and others would simply be reclassified as executives, even if they wield little managerial authority."
The article states that the bill is likely to pass the Senate and that none of the Democratic candidates except Kucinich and Dean returned phone calls. The author isn't particularly happy with them, either, since they haven't made this a major issue and only Kucinich promises to reverse this bill when elected. The White House, on the other hand, worked overtime to do away with overtime pay.
". . . The president took a high-profile stand before the House vote, threatening to veto the education, health, and human-services spending bill if an amendment blocking his new overtime rules wasn't lifted. For a president who has presided over the largest net job loss since Herbert Hoover to show such determination to cut workers' overtime pay is, in the words of UFCW chief lobbyist Michael Wilson, "handing the Democrats an issue."
"If only. The day after the defeated amendment in the House, Wilson did show some fire in his belly toward the Democrats, and Gephardt in particular. Wilson said he now wants all the candidates to state publicly that on the day they're elected president, they will immediately announce the reversal of the Bush policy. So far, only Kucinich has said unequivocally that he will."
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0329/valance.phpWhat is with the Democrats? Do they think Americans want overtime pay eliminated? This will be disastrous for the many who depend on working regular overtime hours. Receiving comp time is not the same as getting money to pay your bills! I expect that people deprived of overtime pay will lose not only the luxuries like fishing boats, family vacations, and college educations for their kids, but also the necessities like cars, homes, medical expenses. Some will be forced into bankruptcy, if they are even able to file under new laws designed to protect creditors. Of course the Bushies already took care of their friends there by requiring that credit card companies must be paid before any other obligation a bankrupt person has.
It seems unfair to me that the government will allow corporations, which should have substantial business acumen, to go bankrupt but will deny the "privilege" to individual citizens, especially in an economic climate that encourages people to overextend themselves financially.
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