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Kerry details Internet petition drive on overtime
by Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
August 5, 2003

Jean Ross of the Minnesota Nurses Association and presidential candidate John Kerry sign online petitions to protest changes in overtime pay standards. (MPR Photo/Tom Scheck)

Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry paid a visit to Minnesota on Tuesday to speak out against the U.S. Labor Department's proposed changes to the nation's overtime rules. He also lobbied Minnesotans at a fundraiser in Minneapolis.

St. Paul, Minn. — John Kerry first stop during his visit to Minnesota was at the Minnesota Nurses Association in St. Paul. Kerry joined union members to speak out against the Labor Department's proposed changes to rules for overtime work.

Under the new rules, managers making up to $22,000 a year would receive guaranteed overtime. But Kerry and others say the proposal would exempt salaried workers making over $65,000 a year. It would also reclassify and exempt many middle-income workers from earning overtime.

	Sen. John Kerry

Jean Ross, a nurse at Fairview Southdale Hospital says many nurses who aren't under a collective bargaining agreement could be considered exempt under the new rules. She says that will discourage people from going into her field.

"Why would I and my collegues stay in a job setting where extra effort is now rewarded with overtime pay? Why would we stay in an environment that now has an open door to impose excessive work on existing employees? It even has the incentive to not recruit new employees," she said.

There's disagreement over who would not be allowed to get overtime under the proposed rules. The Labor Department says fewer than 644,000 people would lose overtime pay. Kerry and others says it could be as high as 8 million. He also says police and firefighters could lose the benefit.

Kerry announced on Sunday that he was starting a petition to protest the changes on his Web site. He's making stops at unions throughout the country to highlight the issue.

"To take away overtime pay is to destroy many individuals ability to be able to make ends meet, to pay the mortgage, send the kids to school, buy the medicine for themselves and be able to live a decent life. And it is to dumb down, push down, squeeze down the quality of life in America," he said.

Kerry says he and other Senate Democrats will challenge the rule change if it's adopted. The final Labor Department plan would not need approval by Congress.

Ed Frank, with the U.S. Labor Department disputes Kerry's figures. He says nurses, police and firefighters will not be exempted from the proposal.

"There is a lot of misinformation and a lot of Chicken Littlism about this,but it's inaccurate," he said.

This is Kerry's first campaign stop in Minnesota. After his event with the nurses union, the Massachusetts Democrat traveled to Minneapolis to speak to several hundred Democrats and independents.

The Kerry event was attended by several DFLers in the Legislature, Attorney General Mike Hatch and former state auditor Judy Dutcher. Kerry used the event to criticize President Bush's economic policy, education priorities and health care environmental issues. He says he's the best choice to challenge Bush because he has both a sound domestic and foreign policy record.

"If you add up the record of this administration and I'm going to add it up all across this country on a daily basis, the conclusion is clear: the one person in the United States of America who deserves to be laid off is George W. Bush," Kerry said.

While Kerry and eight other Democratic hopefuls hope to replace Bush, Minnesota Republicans think Bush can be the first Republican presidential candidate to win Minnesota since 1972. Randy Wanke, with the Minnesota Republican Party, says his party isn't concerned which Democrat wins the party nomination and runs against the president.

"I think Minnesotans will reject the current crop of Democratic presidential candidates because they have no agenda. Their agenda is to attack the president. Their agenda is to be negative. They offer the voters of Minnesota nothing new, nothing fresh and I think that's something Minnesota voters will reject," according to Wanke.

The president has a campaign stop scheduled in Minnesota later this month. The campaign says it will include a fundraiser. The White House and the Bush campaign are not releasing further details about the visit.

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