Statement by Edward J. McElroy, President of the American Federation of Teachers,
on Passage of Obey Amendment on Overtime Regulations

(Restoration of the right to earn overtime pay to more than 6 million workers who have been covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act)

Washington, D.C. — The Obey amendment is a step in the right direction for working men and women.  Instead of weakening the middle class as the Bush administration sought to do, we should be trying to strengthen it.  It is incomprehensible that at a time when the Census Bureau reports that median family income is flat—after two years of steady decline—the administration and its allies in Congress would want to take steps to drive down pay for hard-working middle-class wage earners.  Today’s vote to reverse the Bush administration’s overtime policy has done more to help the middle class than any policy the administration has offered in the past four years.  

Millions of Americans, among them many AFT members, stand to lose a significant portion of their income if the Bush administration has its way.  These include an estimated 30,000 early childhood and Head Start teachers, as well as other professionals such as nurses and professors.

Today’s vote to reject the Bush administration’s new policy on overtime follows similar action in the Senate to correct this unfair rule change.  Congress must now act immediately to produce a final bill restoring the right to overtime for the millions of middle-class Americans injured by this new rule.

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