WHEREAS:

            The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted to protect workers against exploitation and to stimulate job growth; and

WHEREAS:                

            The 1985 U.S. Supreme court decision in Garcia v. San Antonio Transit Authority finally extended FLSA coverage to state and local government workers, the only major group of employees previously excluded from the Act's protections, thereby achieving equity for public workers; and                        

WHEREAS:

            Employers, in both the public and private sectors, are aggressively seeking ways to diminish workers' rights to the overtime protections of the Act. Many public employers are attempting to weaken public sector coverage. The most far reaching attack came recently when 15 states blatantly urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverseGarcia; and

WHEREAS:

           Some employers are attempting to exempt certain hourly paid workers from the overtime protections of FLSA. Other employers want to use their own civil service classification systems to determine whether a worker is exempt from overtime protections; and

WHEREAS:   

           The current minimum salary requirements for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions from overtime have not been increased since 1975 and are therefore meaningless. In fact, they are currently no more than the already inadequate minimum wage. 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

          That AFSCME continue to protect the integrity of the FLSA by fighting unwarranted changes which would diminish workers’ rights; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

          That AFSCME continue to fight along with the AFL-CIO to win increases in the minimum salary requirements for executive, administrative, and professional exemptions that are the equivalent of three times the minimum wage; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

          That AFSCME support an increase in FLSA’s overtime premium from one and one half times to three times the hourly rate; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

          That AFSCME support legislation designed to increase employment opportunities by gradually decreasing, the standard work week from 40 hours to 35 hours without loss of pay; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

            That AFSCME and the U.S. labor movement will fight to increase the minimum wage on a yearly basis until it reaches 50% of the U.S. average hourly earnings for non-supervisory production workers, with indexing thereafter on an annual basis.

SUBMITTED: 

Linda Chavez-Thompson, Delegate 
Adolph Hernandez, Delegate
Lisa Ball, Delegate 
Kevin Ball, Delegate 
AFSCME Local 2399
Texas