Progress Report: More Work for Less Pay

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> Progress Report: More Work for Less Pay

 

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Center for American Progress - Progress Report

 

by David Sirota, Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and

Jonathan Baskin

 

 

 

August 6, 2004

ECONOMY More Work for Less Pay

INTELLIGENCE Cheney Stopped Reforms

MEDIA OutFoxed Hits the Theaters

UNDER THE RADAR

 

ECONOMY

More Work for Less Pay

 

President Bush's assault on overtime pay continues.

His administration has already issued rules #8211;

scheduled to take effect August 23 #8211; that will

strip overtime pay from an estimated 6 million

workers. Yesterday in Ohio, President Bush touted two

new proposals which go by the deceptively appealing

names " flex time " and " comp time. " Bush claims that

the proposals are motivated by a concern for working

mothers and other members of the work force with

demanding schedules. In reality, the proposals would

allow businesses to have their employees work more

than 40 hours a week without getting paid overtime.

 

CURRENT LAW ALREADY ALLOWS FOR FLEXIBILITY: Current

law does not prevent an employee and an employer from

negotiating a schedule where the employee works, for

example, 50 hours one week and 30 hours the next. The

employer is simply required to pay time-and-a-half for

the extra 10 hours in the first week. " Comp time "

would allow the employee to " choose " to substitute the

extra pay for additional time off. It opens the door

for employers to pressure workers to " accept time off

instead of overtime pay. " Even absent explicit

pressure, employers would be free to " channel overtime

work to those who were willing to take comp time. "

#160;Moreover, " employees would have to take their

earned time off when it suits their employer rather

than when it suited the employee. "

 

FLEXTIME MEANS NO COMPENSATION AT ALL FOR LONGER

HOURS: Bush's other proposal #8211; " flex time " , would

allow employers to set work schedules on an 80-hour,

two-week period. This is essentially a mechanism for

employers to schedule overtime without providing any

overtime compensation. Like comp time, it promotes

irregular work weeks that may reduce workers' income

or reduce leisure time.

 

EMPLOYEES FINANCE INTEREST-FREE LOAN TO EMPLOYER: Comp

time proposals that have been introduced in Congress

would permit employers " to deny use of comp time for a

year or more. " The effect would be that employers

would " receive an interest-free loan from their

employees, while workers who gave up premium pay would

get shortchanged by devalued banked comp time. " If

some of the banked comp time hours end up unused, " the

employees are likely to wind up working longer annual

hours than they would have without a comp time

program. " AFL-CIO President John Sweeney explains,

" comp time is 'paid leave' only in the sense that it

is 'paid for' by the workers' own lost overtime

earning, minus interest.

 

LESS EXPENSIVE OVERTIME MEANS MORE OVERTIME: Allowing

the substitution of time off for overtime will " lower

the marginal cost of scheduling overtime " and

" intensif[y] the economic incentives for employers to

lengthen the number of overtime hours scheduled per

week. " The result would be longer and more

unpredictable work weeks #8211; a development that is

anything but " family friendly. "

 

PUBLIC SECTOR IS NOT A GOOD MODEL: Advocates of comp

time note that it has been available for some time

within the public sector. But that doesn't mean it is

a good idea for the private sector. Specifically,

" there is a real danger of losing comp time accruals

[in the private sector] in the event of a business

failure. " For example, In 2000 #8211; when the economy

was still booming #8211; 550,000 U.S. businesses

closed. Also, " the relative absence of unions in the

private sector leaves employees vulnerable to employer

abuse. " Finally, since private sector employees are

not required to provide any paid leave for vacations

at all there is nothing than would " prevent an

employer from reducing or eliminating the paid leave

it provides now and substituting comp time in its

place. " #160;#160;

 

INTELLIGENCE

Cheney Stopped Reforms

 

With President Bush flip-flopping on whether to

support the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, a

new report from the nonpartisan Federation of American

Scientists shows that the person who has blocked many

similar changes is Dick Cheney. Specifically, FAS

documents that in 1992, then-Secretary of Defense Dick

Cheney refused to support many of the same

intelligence reforms that the 9/11 Commission is

proposing now, including the creation of a director of

national intelligence. While the President has offered

rhetorical support for creating the director position,

top Republican Commissioner Slade Gorton said the

White House's actual proposal falls far short of what

the Commission recommended. (Read a bookmarked verison

of the 9/11 report)

 

CHENEY OPPOSED CREATION OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

DIRECTOR: According to FAS, #8220;In a March 1992

letter to Congress, Defense Secretary Cheney

#8220;defended the status quo and objected to proposed

intelligence reform legislation, particularly

the#160;Director of National

Intelligence#160;#160;position.#8221; Cheney wrote

that proposed#160; intelligence reforms proposed by

Congress " would seriously impair the

effectiveness#8221; of government and specifically

opposed empowering a director of national

intelligence. He wrote that such a new office would

#8220;assign inappropriate authority#8221; to the new

director and said intelligence #8220; must remain

under the authority, direction, and control of the

Secretary of Defense " (i.e. himself).

 

CHENEY ISSUED VETO THREAT: In his letter, Cheney not

only voiced opposition to the plan, but threatened to

put the full weight of the first Bush administration

behind stopping them. He wrote, " I would recommend

that the President veto [the measure] if [it] were

presented to him in its current form. " As FAS notes,

#8220;Cheney's unyielding opposition stifled the first

initiative for post-Cold War intelligence reform. As a

result, we now face many of the same problems, and the

same proposed solutions, more than a decade

later.#8221;

 

MEDIA

OutFoxed Hits the Theaters

 

After its meteoritic rise to the top of DVD bestseller

lists, OutFoxed #8211; the documentary co-sponsored by

American Progress that exposes the truth about Fox

News #8211; is headed to the big screen. It will be

playing in theatres in Washington D.C., New York, Los

Angeles and San Fransisco. Read the review in today's

Washington Post.

 

 

 

 

 

ECONOMY - RHETORIC VERSUS REALITY:#160; This week,

President Bush said, #8220;When it comes to creating

jobs for American workers, we are turning the corner

and we're not going back.#8221; It's not time to pop

the champagne quite yet. According to today's report

by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. employers

added #8220;just an eighth of the number [of jobs]

forecast. The new figures bolster " evidence that a

slowdown in economic growth may extend into the third

quarter.#8221; On top of that, job numbers for recent

months weren't as positive as previously thought:

#8220;Job gains also were revised lower for the

preceding two months, to 78,000 for June and 208,000

in May, or 61,000 less than originally stated.#8221;

Keep in mind, about 150,000 jobs need to be added just

to keep up with growth in the labor force. This month,

only 32,000 were added.

 

HALLIBURTON #8211; MORE REASONS IT SHOULD GET NO-BID

CONTRACTS: According to a new filing by four former

Halliburton employees, Vice President Cheney's former

company was guilty of inflating its financial results,

overbilling for services, overstating its accounts

receivable due from customers, and understating

accounts payable owed to vendors. The employees

#8220;contend that a high-level and systemic

accounting fraud occurred at the company from 1998 to

2001,#8221; including during the two years when Cheney

was Halliburton's chief executive. #8220;The filing

accuses the company of accounting improprieties that

go far beyond those outlined by the Securities and

Exchange Commission in its civil suit against

Halliburton, which the company settled on Tuesday,

paying $7.5 million.#8221; It notes that one former

employee in accounting said superiors told her to do

#8220;whatever it took#8221; to make projects appear

profitable and to meet Wall Street estimates for the

company's earnings. According to a quarterly filing it

also made on Tuesday, Halliburton is under

investigation by the Justice Department for possibly

overbilling on work done in the Balkans from 1996

through 2000.

 

VOTING #8211; FLORIDA TOUCH SCREENS DRAW (MORE)

SCRUTINY: Belated public scrutiny of a report on tens

of thousands of ballots tossed out for irregularities

in Florida's 2002 elections revealed that " the rate of

so-called undervotes, or blank or incomplete ballots,

in the 2002 gubernatorial election was nearly three

times higher in counties using touch-screen machines

as in those with optical scan systems.#8221; The

report shows #8220;more than 44,000 votes weren't

counted#8221; in the governor's race won by the

president's brother, Jeb Bush. Activist groups are

calling on Gov. Bush to give voters in touch-screen

counties the option of using paper ballots, but so far

the governor has refused, even as his own party has

been circulating fliers advising constituents to

#8220;Make sure your vote counts. Order your absentee

ballot today.#8221; The Miami Herald reports record

numbers of voters may ask for absentee ballots because

of suspicions about the touch screen machines.

 

JUDICIAL #8211; INFORMATION WITHHELD ON JUDGES: The

Washington Post reports that #8220;Nearly 600 times in

recent years, a judicial committee acting in private

has stripped information from reports intended to

alert the public to conflicts of interest involving

federal judges.#8221; A study by the Government

Accountability Office (GAO) found that #8220;In 55

instances, the committee withheld all information on

the disclosure reports -- including details about

outside income, gifts, business contracts, debts,

stocks and the value of holdings.#8221; Judicial

ethics specialists said they were #8220;startled at

the breadth of the excisions -- and particularly that

the material cut included financial information that

appeared to present little safety risk.#8221; Legal

ethicist Jeffrey Shaman said, #8220;It makes one

wonder if the real reason for a judge to request the

redaction is to prevent the public from learning

embarrassing information.#8221;

 

MEDIA #8211; MCCAIN CONDEMNS BUSH CAMPAIGN AD: Sen.

John McCain (R-AZ), a former prisoner of war in

Vietnam, has sharply condemned an ad criticizing John

Kerry's military service and urged the White House on

Thursday to condemn it as well. #8220;The White House

declined.#8221; The 60-second ad features Vietnam

veterans accusing Kerry of lying about his decorated

Vietnam War record, even though none of the veterans

who criticize Kerry served with him on his swift boat.

#8220;I deplore this kind of politics,#8221; McCain

said. #8220;I think the ad is dishonest and

dishonorable. As it is, none of these individuals

served on the boat [Kerry] commanded. Many of his crew

have testified to his courage under fire. I think John

Kerry served honorably in Vietnam.#8221; Three

veterans who were on Kerry's boat -- Jim Rassmann,

Gene Thorson and Del Sandusky, called the ad

#8220;pure fabrication.#8221;

 

#160;Don't Miss

DAILY TALKING POINTS: Employment Crisis Continues

 

IRAQ: Paul Krugman explores the puzzling drop-off in

media coverage since the transfer of sovereignty in

Iraq.

 

HEALTH CARE: A new study suggests many African

Americans get their primary health care in a separate

and apparently inferior system.

 

IRAQ: Christian Science Monitor surveys the security

situation in Iraq.

 

ENVIRO: Stateline reports #8220;environmental

justice#8221; is an emerging state issue.

 

Contact The Progress Report.

 

 

 

 

#160;Daily Grill

 

#8220;When it comes to creating jobs for American

workers, we are turning the corner and we're not going

back.#8221;

 

#8211; President Bush, 8/4/04

 

VERSUS

 

#8220;The nation's payroll growth slowed dramatically

in July with a paltry 32,000 jobs being added - a

potentially troubling sign that the rough patch the

economy hit in June was no aberration.#8221;

 

#8211; AP, 8/6/04

 

#160;Daily Outrage

During a speech Monday night in Florida, Rep.

Katherine Harris (R-FL) revealed classified and

possibly inaccurate information when she claimed the

government had thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up a

power grid in Carmel, Indiana. City officials in

Carmel said they know of no such plot.

 

#160;Archives

Progress Report

 

#160;Opportunity

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