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USW International President Leo W. Gerard and progressive talk show host Leslie Marshall this week discussed income inequality and President Obama’s plan to help shift some wealth back into the hands of working people.
Last week, the president proposed increasing the threshold under which employers would have to pay overtime to salaried workers to $50,440 a year—or roughly double the current level. Some 5 million workers stand to benefit.
This is an extremely popular idea with the majority of Americans, but corporate lobbyists claim it will be too expensive.
“The corporate elites are crying like you wouldn’t believe,” said Gerard. “They always have big money for the boss, but they can’t seem to find anything for the workers.”
The increase to the salary cap, though seemingly drastic, is only enough to bring it in line with what it was in 1975 when adjusted for inflation. CEO pay, on the other hand, has skyrocketed, reaching an average of $15.2 million a year in 2013.
Overtime rules were originally instituted to protect workers from exploitation. They act as a safeguard whereby if an employer wants a worker to put in longer hours, he must be willing to pay the worker for the extra effort.
Yet while productivity is up 74 percent since 1973, wages have remained largely flat.
“By any measure that you look at, the income inequality that is rampant in this country is an economic cancer,” said Gerard.
President Obama’s proposed changes to overtime are a start, Gerard said, but the real cure is grassroots activism.
“If we bring all progressives together,” said Gerard, “women’s groups, anti-poverty groups, civil rights groups, environmental groups, LGBT groups, labor groups—if we all come together in the fight for a fair economy, we have a chance of winning.”
To hear the full conversation, click the link below:
Background Material
Middle Class Economics Rewarding Hard Work by Restoring Overtime Pay
How to make sense of Obama’s big changes to overtime policy
Wage Stagnation in Nine Charts
Corporate Profits Grow and Wages Slide
CEO Pay Continues to Rise as Typical Workers Are Paid Less
Executive Excess 2013: Bailed Out, Booted, and Busted
There’s Always Money for the Boss
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