FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT

Teachers are today facing the gravest economic crisis in their history. Education budgets are being slashed, program quality is declining, class sizes are increasing because of the problems throughout the economy. There will soon be almost as many teachers waiting for teaching jobs as there are employed in the profession.

The basic reason is unemployment. Almost 10 million people are out of work and this has caused a sharp decline in tax revenue for local and state governments while costs associated with unemployment such as welfare have sharply increased. The result is unemployment which creates even more unemployment. The solution is jobs, and jobs can only be created by programs which cause economic stimuli.

The Fair Labor Standards Act which took effect on October 24, 1938, was a depression-born measure which was designed as a tool to prop up the economy. During periods of recession, the law is looked to as a floor below which wages will not drop. It is designed to protect workers from poverty, to discourage excessively long hours of work through requiring premium payments for overtime work, and to outlaw oppressive child labor in industry. It protects fair-minded employers from being undercut by those who compete by paying substandard wages. It adds to the purchasing power of the lowest wage workers and, thus, is a stimulus to business and the economy generally. Every increase in the minimum wage has resulted in a net increase in employment.

The FLSA is effect only if the requirements are sufficient to guarantee "a minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being of workers."

The FLSA, as amended in 1974, does not meet this goal today. The provisions in the statute were overtaken by inflation even before the 1974 Amendments became law. These Amendments came into being after lengthy legislative hearings in 1971, 1972, and 1973. While the $2.00, $2.10, $2.30 minimum rate schedule set in the Act might have been considered appropriate in 1971, it is no guarantee against poverty today.

In December 1974, the poverty line was officially estimated by the government at $5,302 a year for an urban family of four. This translates into an hourly equivalent of $2.55 for a full-time year-round worker. So that on January 1, 1975 when the minimum wage of $2.10 an hour went into effect, it meant continuing poverty for the low-wage worker and family.

As the law now stands, the minimum wage is scheduled to go up to $2.30 an hour on January 1, 1976. Obviously this figure is already hopelessly outdated by the facts of inflation.

Therefore, we urge the Congress to establish a $3.00 an hour floor under wages effective next January 1, as an absolutely indispensable weapon against poverty.

We also urge that the Congress require double time for overtime work. The purpose of this change is not to increase individual earnings but to reduce unemployment. With more than 7.5 million unemployed, we need additional jobs rather than overtime world. Employers continue to schedule regular overtime work while laying off workers because they find it less costly.

We further urge that the Congress should establish machinery to insure that the provisions of the FLSA are vigorously enforced.

The FLSA is an effective weapon against poverty only if the legislative commitment is followed by effective administration and enforcement. This has not been the case with the 1974 Amendments to the FLSA.

The American Federation of Teachers will work to secure Congressional action to establish a $3.00 per hour minimum wage as a step toward full economic recovery for only when the entire economy recovers can teachers be confident about the health of public education.