Obama Administration Proposes New Rules on Overtime Pay

The Obama administration's proposed rules to update the requirements for determining workers' overtime pay are an important first step toward improving the lives of millions of working families. When finalized, the new rules will mean a pay increase for at least 5 million workers who now work more than 40 hours a week but are denied overtime pay.

Currently under the Fair Labor Standards Act, non-hourly workers who earn less than $23,660 a year are paid a time and a half if they work more than 40 hours per week. This limit is way out of date; in 1975, 62 percent of the workforce qualified for overtime but today it's fewer than 12 percent. The new threshold would be $50,440 a year or about $970 a week.

In addition, too many workers are subject to employers' efforts to intentionally misclassify them as "professionals" to deprive them of the overtime pay they have earned, or use other means to force workers to put in extra hours without compensation.

CWA will continue to advocate for full and effective bargaining rights for workers as the most effective way for working families to improve incomes and their standard of living.

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AT&T may agree to follow new Net Neutrality rules to close DirecTV purchase

According to a new report, AT&T (NYSE:T) is prepared to reverse its publicly stated course and abide by new net neutrality rules in order to obtain federal approval of its $49 billion purchase of DirecTV ....

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Whatever Happened to Overtime??

"That’s about a trillion dollars more a year in profit. And since then, wages as a percentage of GDP have fallen, you guessed it, by about the same 6 percent or 7 percent of GDP. Coincidence? Probably not. What very few Americans seem to understand is that that extra trillion dollars isn’t profit because it had to be, or needs to be or should be. That extra trillion dollars is profit because powerful people like me prefer it to be. It could have been spent on your wages. Or it could have gone into discounts to you, the consumer. We capitalists will tell you that our increasing profits are the result of some complex economic force with the immutability and righteousness of divine law. But the truth is, it is simply a result of a difference in negotiating power. As in, we have it. And you don’t."

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Communications Workers of America, District 4, Opposes Telecom Dereg Proposal in Lame Duck Session

" Telecom Giants are pushing through an amendment in Lame Duck session designed to wreck Provider of Last Resort Rules (POLR). These rules ensure that everyone in Ohio has access to critical voice telephone service. The Telecom companies are trying to do away with POLR requirements with an amendment to Agriculture Bill (HB 490) 

In 2010, CWA worked on a Bi-Partisan Bill that nearly unanimously passed the Ohio House and Senate that protected Jobs and Consumers, particularly the rural and elderly customers."

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Union is Strength "Together we can do MORE"

To view the "Union is Strength" video click here