Senate Slated to Vote Monday on Minimum Wage

March 4, 2005

Action Needed:

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:

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 people out of work, and with so many other families struggling to make ends meet, cutbacks on overtime are an unfair burden that 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: