Thursday, August 26, 2004

FYVM*, again

Via Democratic Veteran:

New federal rules will ace some 6 million workers out of the overtime pay to which, until now, they have been entitled by law, according to AFL-CIO calculations. Or they will bring a million-plus low-wage workers into overtime eligibility that they have been denied, as the Bush administration sees it.

The reworked regulations are so numerous and complex that no one knows for sure who will win, who will lose or where the balance will lie. It will probably be years until the changes settle and the outcomes are clear.

But if you think this is an administration that would set out to do workers a great big favor and pester employers' bottom lines, you ought to check your zip code. It may be time for you to move back to Earth.

Granted, it is a distinctly novel re-election ploy to cut the take-home of millions and expect to profit politically. But then the Bush White House has more than its share, not only of testosterone, but of chutzpah. (As in that term's classic example: the guy who murders his parents and pleads for mercy as an orphan.)

[. . .]

From the minute he took office and turned national energy policy over to the oil, gas and coal lobbyists, Bush has been the faithful servant of the Business Roundtable, National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

He has blocked any boosts in the increasingly laggard minimum wage. He had to be dragooned by worried fellow Republicans in Congress into accepting extensions in unemployment compensation. For him go out of his way to punch up the paychecks of the work-a-day by gimmicking overtime rules would be, let's say, out of character.

[. . .]


Full story.

And there's still working class assholes who say 'I'm voting for Bush'. If you do, you deserve to lose your overtime and, eventually, your job.

[*FYVM=Fuck you very much]

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