democrats absent

Leading Democrats Go AWOL on Overtime Vote
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by Nikos Valance
Village Voice
July 16 - 22, 2003

There are millions of men and women in America who not
only work hard every day but also put in overtime.
Sometimes the overtime helps to pay the bills.
Sometimes it helps them stay a little ahead of the game
or to save for things they otherwise couldn't afford,
like a college education or a bigger house for a
growing family. There was once a time in America when
these men and women believed they could depend on
Democrats in Washington to defend their interests and
to battle to protect their rights.

That time is apparently gone. On Thursday, the House of
Representatives-with seven Democrats absent, including
presidential candidate Richard Gephardt-voted 213 to
210 to approve new regulations that would cut off a
universe of Americans-anywhere from 1 million to 8
million-from guaranteed overtime pay. Under the new
rules, backed by the Bush administration and campaigned
for heavily by business lobbyists, those employees
would still have to put in extra hours. They just
wouldn't get any extra pay. Instead, some would qualify
for comp time-try paying the rent with that-and others
would simply be reclassified as executives, even if
they wield little managerial authority.

Where were the Democrats? Nowhere to be found. Gephardt
was in Iowa getting an endorsement from the
International Order of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers, promising veterans of the picket line they'd
be part of a new American prosperity. Among the leading
Democratic contenders, neither Gephardt nor senators
John Edwards, John Kerry, or Joe Lieberman returned
repeated Voice calls for comment. The office of
Representative Dennis Kucinich, a staunch labor
supporter who voted against the measure, at least
returned a call, as did former Vermont governor Howard
Dean's office. Dean spokesperson Tricia Enright says of
Gephardt's absence, "It's disgraceful. . . . Don't
votes like this keep people off the picket lines?"

It's fine for Dean's people to take a shot at Gephardt
on this issue, but the fact of the matter is that none
of the presidential candidates made this into a major
national issue. Neither did any of the Democrats in
Congress. Yet all are counting on support from labor,
and they're likely to get it.

Even more mind-boggling is the reaction from organized
labor. Bill Samuels, the legislative director of the
AFL-CIO said he "was disappointed by the vote in the
House." Just disappointed? Is that all? He went on to
say the next step was to try to win a vote in the
Senate, a vote that hasn't yet been scheduled, and
about which labor leaders can only hope. Because if
Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman, or Bob Graham decide not to
be present, the unions are bound to lose. With such a
narrow margin in the Senate-Republicans hold a one-vote
majority-the chances of labor winning a vote there are
viewed as very slim. And with the House vote sealed,
the general consensus is that the new regs are a done
deal.

Some labor execs have interesting theories as to why
the candidates are not more outspoken about the issue.
Nicholas Clark, an attorney with the United Food and
Commercial Workers (UFCW), thinks the candidates may be
lying low in order not to interfere with a bipartisan
effort to beat back the administration. Meanwhile the
Bush White House is working its own overtime to make
sure the new regs go through. The president took a
high- profile stand before the House vote, threatening
to veto the education, health, and human-services
spending bill if an amendment blocking his new overtime
rules wasn't lifted. For a president who has presided
over the largest net job loss since Herbert Hoover to
show such determination to cut workers' overtime pay
is, in the words of UFCW chief lobbyist Michael Wilson,
"handing the Democrats an issue."

If only. The day after the defeated amendment in the
House, Wilson did show some fire in his belly toward
the Democrats, and Gephardt in particular. Wilson said
he now wants all the candidates to state publicly that
on the day they're elected president, they will
immediately announce the reversal of the Bush policy.
So far, only Kucinich has said unequivocally that he
will.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0329/valance.php

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