Editorial Roundup: New Proposal to #FixOvertime Pay is 'Necessary, Not Optional...'
Toledo Blade Editorial (Ohio) – Sense on overtime pay
Republican politicians seem determined to dismantle even the most common-sense of the Obama Administration's economic policies.
…those on the right largely advocate more-relaxed labor policies, relying on failed trickle-down theories to pretend that clawing back inequality-abating measures would make ordinary Americans better off.
Deliberate inequality-abating policies such as fair overtime pay are necessary, not optional…
Boston Globe Editorial (Massachusetts) – End fake ‘promotions' that steal overtime pay
…critics are forgetting — or choosing to ignore — the fact that this is not a revolutionary remake of labor regulations, but simply a long-overdue update of a rule aimed at preventing companies from forcing employees to log extra hours without being paid. The people who will benefit are mostly lower-middle-class workers whose wages have remained stagnant
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial (Missouri) – The laborer is worthy of his hire. And his overtime
There are between 5 million and 15 million assistant managers and others in low-paid "management" jobs that ought to be a ticket to the middle class. Instead they're still flipping burgers and stocking shelves into their 40s.
Now, under prodding by President Barack Obama, the Labor Department is rewriting the 1975 rules governing when someone can be considered a manager and thus exempt from overtime. The proposal…would raise the threshold from $455 a week to $970 a week by next year.
The rules were last updated in 2004 under President George W. Bush, but that update actually hurt more workers than it helped.
NJ.com Editorial (New Jersey) – On overtime, Obama goes to bat for the middle class
…Obama believes in hard work and the American Dream. That's why he's looking to close a loophole in federal regulations that allows employers to shamelessly exploit their hardest workers.
As the rich get even richer, capturing a much bigger share of economic growth, middle class people have seen their wages stagnate and can't afford to send their kids to college.
Instead, they are awarded meaningless titles that make a joke out of their hard work. Think about that the next time a politician talks about the American Dream.
Union-Bulletin News Editorial (Washington) – New overtime rules would return balance
This isn't a welfare program. These "managers" are working, paying taxes, raising families and often suffering due to the long hours.
It is simple economics. Better-paid workers have more money to spend to support other businesses. Call it the trickle-up theory. This actually could be a boon to business.
New York Times Editorial – A Needed Update for Overtime Pay
No party and no politician that opposes the new overtime rules can credibly claim to care about the middle class.
Hard-working Americans throughout the country have been working longer hours only to see their pay stay the same. This landmark victory for hard-working families is long overdue. As Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said: "these rules represent a critical and consequential step toward revitalizing the middle class that has always been the backbone of our democracy."