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ANOTHER urgent reason to call on the bankruptcy bill, or call AGAIN if you already have, to stop Sanctimonius Santorum's urge to hurt the lower and middle classes. See message below from NOW:
----- Original Message -----
From: NOW National Action Center
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 2:56 PM
Subject: Senate Slated to Vote Monday on Minimum Wage
Senate Slated to Vote Monday on Minimum Wage
Action Needed:
We need your calls right away to support a REAL minimum wage increase to $7.75 and to oppose Senator Santorum's (R-PA) attempt to abolish the 40-hour work week by adding a bogus "flex time" proposal to his alternative and smaller wage increase.
The Senate is in the middle of debating a "bankruptcy bill," which NOW opposes because it would inflict great hardship on women, especially those trying to collect child support—but Senator Kennedy (D-MA) has promised to attach a minimum wage increase to every bill that comes to the Senate floor, so he is even putting this important initiative on bills he opposes. Therefore, on Monday, March 7, the Senate will be voting on this minimum wage amendment as part of the bad bankruptcy bill.
Senator Santorum (R-PA) is proposing a substitute to the Kennedy amendment which will only raise the minimum wage to $6.25, but the trade off for this modest increase is a "poison pill" with the bogus title of "flextime" that will abolish the 40-hour work week by allowing employers to deny workers overtime pay unless they work more than 50 hours in a week, or more than 80 hours over a two-week period. Under this scheme, employers could refuse to pay workers up to ten hours of earned overtime pay every two weeks.
There is no time for e-mails or letters. We must call every senator—both their home offices in your state and their Congressional office in Washington, D.C. Please pick up the phone and call your senators now and at least leave a voice mail with your message (if possible, leave your message for the staff person who handles minimum wage and employment issues.
Your Message:
Please support the Kennedy amendment to raise the minimum wage as you vote on S.256, the Bankruptcy Act. Nearly 60% of minimum wage workers are women and this increase is vital to help them and their families survive.
Do not vote for the Santorum proposal that will wreak havoc on the lives of working parents who will be forced to work 50 hour weeks without overtime compensation, causing them late nights and weekend hours away from their families with no recourse.
Finally, please vote against the bankruptcy bill itself, as it would jeopardize hundreds of thousands of women trying to collect child support.
Background:
RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE IS A MATTER OF FAIRNESS. The number of people in poverty has increased by 4.3 million since
President Bush took office. Nearly 36 million people live in poverty,
including 13 million children. Among full-time, year-round workers
poverty has doubled since the late 1970s—from about 1.3 million then
to more than 2.6 million. An unacceptably low minimum wage is a key
part of the problem.
Minimum wage employees working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year,
earn $10,700 a year, $5,000 below the poverty line for a family of
three. Since the last increase in 1997, the value has eroded by more
than 15 percent.
INCREASING THE WORK WEEK TO 50 HOURS WITHOUT OVERTIME WILL HURT WORKING FAMILIES. Last year, President Bush and the Republican leadership eliminated overtime protections for more than 6 million people. Today, they want to strip away overtime protection from even more workers, by giving employers the right to work their employees longer hours for less pay.
This proposal is not about creating flexibility for workers. Forcing workers to switch to an 80-hour work period will wreak havoc with workers’ schedules, child care obligations and free time with their families. This is the death of the American weekend.
Minimum wage workers—who are mostly women—working 50 hours one week and 30 hours the next for a year could lose nearly $800 of hard-earned overtime pay that year. Median income workers, working identical hours, would take home $3,000 less than they would under the current law. Many middle-class families rely on overtime earnings for their children’s college tuition, their own retirement, or even to meet their monthly bills. With nearly 8 million Americans out of work, and with so many other families struggling to make ends meet, cutbacks on overtime are an unfair burden that America's workers should not have to bear.
OPPOSE THE BANKRUPTCY BILL. Even as we support the Kennedy minimum wage increase, and need to put pressure on senators to increase the minimum wage, we oppose the bankruptcy bill for many reasons. You can find a summary of the arguments against the bill, as well as a letter from NOW.
Please call your senator today or Monday morning with this important message. Senators who are potential supporters of the Kennedy amendment should be called first:
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Senator Benjamin Nelson (D-NE)
Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR)
Senator Herbert Kohl (D-WI)
Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
Senator John Warner (R-VA)
Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH)
Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)
Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE)
FIND YOUR SENATORS NUMBERS HERE: www.senate.gov
FIND YOUR HOUSE REP HERE: www.house.gov
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