perfidy

Diamond John Kerry has begun stumping for an issue with actual, real value! The Boston Globe/AP is reporting that Kerry is attempting to launch a petition against the Bush Administration's changes to overtime regulations.

Whoopee. A damn petition. But it's a good cause, and one that the Democrats have utterly failed to capitalize on in their bumbling assault on Castle Dubya.

In short, the changes to overtime policy allow businesses to reclassify a large chunk of workers (how large? wisdom varies--some say a little over half a million, big labor says 8 million) as exempt from overtime pay. Basically, the new rules would give employers greater latitude in determining whether workers making between $22.1K and $65K per year are vital enough to the function of a business to be exempt from overtime pay.

Instead, employers could choose to issue comp time to workers who work over 40 hours per week.

Though the Department of Labor insists it is not fundamentally changing anything, in separate discussions spokespeople have admitted that it would make it easier for employers to deny lower-paid rank and file workers overtime.

Not such a big deal, right? Weeeeel, I dunno. The 40-hour week plus overtime was one of the great victories of the labor movement in the United States, and any attempt at revising that standard will be naturally met with skepticism. Furthermore, having worked for my share of grasping, greedy, and utterly perfidious employers, I am well aware of the many ways in which business may legally deprive you of your own time. The new rules just make it easier to do so.

The Big Comp Time Scam

Although comp time has been presented as a reasonable alternative to overtime, as it turns out, it isn't such a great deal for workers at all. Although in theory one is able to save up days worked and redeem them almost at will in lieu of spending a vacation day, there are two problems: 1) comp time disappears if an employee is laid off, meaning employers are not obliged to pay for comped hours in severance packages; and 2) comp time is taken at the will of the employer, not the employee.

An example of how this can go wrong: I know of a computer tech at a nonprofit who gives comp time instead of overtime. Currently, he has worked more than 40 hours per week every week for a year straight, and has banked more than 50 days worth of comp time accordingly. But, although he wants and desperately needs time off, his employer will not allow him to use this comp time, arguing "we need you here too badly." They also consistently deny his vacation requests. The upshot is that they employer has gotten an extra ten weeks of work out of this worker for free, and is under no real future obligation to compensate him for this time.

Subheadline #2: obligatory centrist flailing

I'm completely fine with Bush being pro-business-- business makes the world go 'round. But he needs to be verrry careful when making changes to the American work week. Not only is the 40 hour week one of the finest fruits of the labor movement, in more concrete terms a lot of people rely on overtime to survive and raise their families. Changing overtime rules is hitting these good working Americans right where it hurts. Most of the people affected aren't blue-collar workers, but the new-style lowly bluish-white collar administrators and middle managers who are the new Joe Sixpack of the American workforce.

Subheadline #3: a strong stand!

All in all, I don't like the proposed changes because I don't trust business not to exploit the regulations to the limit of the letter. Companies exist to make money, and with few exceptions, there is tension between the need to be far in the black, and the need to retain and treat well good employees. Like in most things, give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

But more importantly, this is the kind of issue the Democrats could really score points on if they could stop drooling on their shirts for a while. If the damn Dems could give up on the "Bush Lied" thing-- which is as endearing now as when the Republicans tried it on Clinton-- and actually got to work on attacking Bush where he's vulnerable, this could turn into an ugly issue. Just harp on the "they're coming for your paycheck" meme a little, and Labor could swing more decisively Democratic than it has for a while.

Not that this will happen. Most of the Democrats presidential contenders are idiots, and even the ones I like (Howard Dean) are silver-spoon babies with no actual affinity for working Americans. Which is why we need Jim Traficant for president!