Bush outlaws overtime pay! Back to the dark ages!

The Grinch That Stole Labor Day From Veterans
By Greg Palast
9-6-4

In celebration of the working person's holiday, Secretary of Labor
Elaine Chao has announced the Bush Administration's plan to end the
60-year-old law which requires employers to pay time-and-a-half for
overtime.

I'm sure you already knew that -- if you happened to have run across
page 15,576 of last year's Federal Register.

According to the Register, where the Bush Administration likes to
place its little gifts to major campaign donors, 2.7 million workers
will lose their overtime pay for a "benefit" of $1.53 billion. I
put "benefit" in quotes because, in the official cost-benefit
analysis issued by Bush's Labor Department, the amount employers will
now be able to slice out of workers' pockets is tallied on the plus
side of the rules change.

President Bush announced in his convention acceptance speech in New
York this week that he was changing overtime rules to give
workers "comp time" off, instead of pay. He forgot to mention that a
couple of days before, on August 23, his Labor Department had already
put in half the plan -- eliminating overtime pay for millions --
while failing to put into the regs one word about comp time. In the
pre-September 11 days, we used to call what the President
said, "lying."

Nevertheless, workers getting their pay snipped shouldn't complain,
because they will all be receiving promotions. These employees will
be re-classified as managers exempt from the law. The change is
promoted by the National Council of Chain Restaurants. You've met
these 'managers' - they're the ones in the beanies and aprons whose
management decisions are, "Hold the lettuce on that."

Read the complete story here:
http://rense.com/general57/grinch.htm