"toto" <scarecrow@wicked.witch> wrote in message
news:uk7cgvgdil65an2okqbjs5b0g0k1tnf9b8@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 04 Jul 2003 21:41:03 GMT, "Stan de SD"
> <standesd@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> >Large retail corporations such as Wal-Mart and McDonalds piss off
liberals
> >to no end because they are highly successful operations that cater to the
> >TASTES and PREFERENCES of working-class America
>
> Is this the same working class that is going to be screwed out of its
> overtime pay if they make more than $22,000 a year?
>
> That is what the corporations are doing to the working class citizen,
> you know.... They intend to make people salaried so they can work
> 60 hour weeks without being paid overtime.


A couple of points here:

(1) Plenty of people in the military, white-collar and professional world
work 60+ hours/week, and don't get paid "overtime". In addition, those of us
who are self-employed, in addition to the work we do for our paying
customers, put in a lot of time on stuff like taxes, expenses, payroll, and
dealing with government regulation, and NEVER get compensated for it, with
our without overtime.

(2) I don't begrudge hourly blue-collar workers for their choice in
employment, as there is a role for everyone, but with any type of employment
option, there are trade-offs. Hourly people don't always command the highest
wages, but they have a certain amount of security and protection from the
government that others of us don't have. For one, they have to be paid by
the hours worked, whether they are necessarily productive or not - salaried
workers don't get to put another 5 hours on the clock if they dicked around
and needed more time to finish their work, and self-employed business types
don't get paid for all the effort they put into a proposal if the customer
doesn't sign on the dotted line. Secondly, the courts are a lot more
protective of workers who haven't been paid by employers that they are of,
for example, indendent contractors who haven't been paid by their customers.
I hear plenty of hourly workers bitching that they are getting a raw deal,
but ask them to go on salary, and watch them have a fit (don't EVEN suggest
that they might try their hand at being self-employed). Hourly workers trade
the prospects of possibly higher pay for the actual SECURITY of getting
paid, and knowing when they are going to get paid.

(2) Let's look at your case of somebody working 60 hours a week and getting
paid only "straight time". Given that overtime is typically
"time-and-one-half" over 40 hours, you're talking about receiving 60 hours
pay per week vs. 70, or a 14% reduction BEFORE payroll deductions (and with
graduated tax rates, the reduction after deductions is more like 10%). Now,
contrast that with the 20-35% of income that is confiscated by state,
federal, and local taxes. If you're so worried about "working class
citizens" being hosed out of their money, why don't you get indignant about
the real problem, and campaign for tax cuts instead?

> Lovely... but then I
> wonder if you ever worked at a job that was real work. I have..

Fine, tell us all about it... My typical work week has been about 60 hours
through most of my adult life, first as an aircrew member in the USAF, then
working and attending college at the same time, then later as a degreed
chemical engineer and a self-employed independent consultant. Ever worked a
24-hour shift? I have. Ever spent an entire night in the tropics humping
class A explosives onto a C-141, when it was 95 degrees and 95% humidity on
the flight line, so you could fly all the next day without any sleep? Ever
worked a job where the only "sleep" you got was throwing your flight jacket
on top of a cargo pallet, or catching cat-naps in a sleeping bag next to a
piece of equipment so you could get up every hour or two to check it out? I
have. What's the longest period where you have gone without working less
than 12 hours per day? Try 4 weeks straight, as I did trying to bring up a
new factory online in Ireland.

Don't preach to me about work, woman. Based on your socio-political
blatherings around here, I doubt you even have a clue. :O(