Massachusetts Senators Fight to Extend Overtime Pay to Millions of American Workers

WASHINGTON, DC - Massachusetts Senator Edward J. Markey, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined their Senate colleagues in urging the U.S. Department of Labor to extend overtime pay to millions of Americans who are working long hours without fair pay.

In a letter to Labor Secretary Tom Perez sent Monday, Feb. 29 Markey and his colleauges called on the agency to move quickly to finalize the overtime pay proposal, adding that while the cost of education, childcare, and retirement have risen, wages have remained virtually unchanged.

“As our economy continues to recover from the Great Recession, we, as a country, need to work on ways to help our economy grow from the middle out, not the top down,” wrote the Senators. “But today, despite longer working hours and higher productivity, workers’ wages have remained virtually unchanged. Millions of people are working harder than ever without basic overtime protections. We applaud the Department of Labor’s move to update the overtime pay threshold, and we are writing to request that you quickly finalize the rule to ensure millions of workers are paid fairly for the hours they work.”

Read the letter here.

The letter was also signed by U.S. Senators Al Franken (D-Minn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.),Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Martin Heinrich (D-N. Mex.), Tom Udall(D-N. Mex.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)