State Repeals
Daily Overtime Law

by Jeff Burman

As many as five thousand angry working people made their voices heard on Friday, April 4th outside the State Office Building in downtown L.A. This was where the final public hearing was held by the Industrial Welfare Commission before they closed the book on daily overtime law for the state of California. The protest was organized by the L.A. County Federation of Labor.

IATSE members joined the huge crowd of trade unionists, from teachers to construction workers, on April 4th. They were protesting Govenor Wilson's plan to end daily overtime pay. The Industrial Welfare Commission decided overtime would only start after 40 hours work. The Editors Guild is not directly affected by this, yet. The big turnout indicated the renewed militancy of the labor movement and growing concern over long hours.

Outside, the streets were jammed with union members from the building trades, restaurant workers and film industry crafts, including several members of our Guild . Banners and placards were everywhere.

Richard Holober, Research Director for the California Federation of Labor was bitter "This is about cutting costs. This is probably a two billion dollar or more transfer of wealth from working people of California to corporate profits." He added, "Employers will dictate a 12-hour day or longer. That's bad for working families. Parents are going to be away from the wee hours of the morning to the late hours of the night. Who's going to take care of their kids when they're working 12-hour shifts?"

Don't want to work a 12-hour shift? If you tell your boss no, he can fire you.

Please remember that, for now, this does not effect union work, or even motion picture work, but the precedent is incendiary. Some insiders believe that if the daily overtime changes are not overturned legislatively or in the courts, the Motion Picture Industry's wage order will be next.

Wilson No Friend of Labor

When all was said and done, the IWC voted three to two to crush the daily overtime requirement of the California Labor Code. All the commission members were Wilson appointees. Come January 1st, we revert to the weaker federal standard, granting overtime after working forty hours in a given week (see "Daily Overtime To Be Slashed," Newsletter, from the March/April '97 issue).

John J. McCarthy, one of the IWC commissioners who voted to retain daily overtime, was distraught. "In manufacturing, this policy will bring about twelve-hour shifts. There will be no discretion for people to make the decision [to work beyond eight hours] for themselves. For women and children, this will result in extreme hardship."

Deborah Hershman, widow of Brent Hershman, speaking at the overtime rally.

IWC Commissioner Cynthia Neff, appointed in March after a previous Commission member was unseated by organized labor's allies in Sacramento, voted against continuing daily overtime. "I am very concerned about the competitiveness of this state," she said. "And I do not think the voices heard in this room and from organized labor represent workers as a whole."

State Assemblyman Wally Knox (D-L.A.) has submitted a bill, AB 15, to reverse the IWC 's decision. "To say that we want California to adopt a policy of lowering pay ... to compete with other states like Mississippi makes no sense whatsoever. The Chamber [of Commerce] and the CMA (California Manufacturer's Association] last month announced that part of what they are seeking to do here is to make sure that California businesses can make more money by cutting people's pay and that this somehow was going to end up being good for our economy. I'm sorry, but everybody I know seems to think that California's workers are California's economy and that if you cut... California workers' pay, how is that really going to improve things?"

California Fed to Sue

Art Pulaski, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Federation, announced the filing of a law suit in the Superior Court of San Francisco, charging the IWC has no right to overrule the state legis1ature. Overtime regulations were codified in Sacramento in 1980. The suit was filed April 15th.

As promised by Senate Leader Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward), the Democrat controlled State Senate denied confirmation for commissioners Robyn Black and Syed Alam on April 24th. Lockyer said that the IWC "is tilting away from its statutory purpose."

Many at the California Fed and the County Fed hope the issue can be delayed long enough for it to drive the governor's race next year.

Stay tuned for more news as it breaks.