LA CROSSE, Wis. -- It wasn’t long after the advance team carefully placed the Presidential Seal on the podium—after a chorus in unison murmured the Pledge of Allegiance. President Barack Obama rose to the stage at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Thursday afternoon to roaring applause from a very friendly audience.
His message rang out in this blue-collar, Midwestern town: “America has always done better, economically, when we’re all in it together, when everybody gets a fair shot.”
To be sure, the president’s new policy on overtime pay is giving many in the convenience-store industry pause. Today, an employee in a “management” position is exempt from overtime pay if he or she earns more than $455 a week, or $23,660 per year, no matter how many hours he or she works. Under Obama’s new policy, the threshold would double to $50,440 per year.
“This is an issue of basic fairness,” the president said. “If you work longer, you work harder, you should get paid for it.”
This isn’t the first time in recent history that the convenience-store industry has weathered a rise in the overtime threshold. The Bush administration updated the policy in 2004 from $155 per week, or $8,060 annually, a rule that had been in place since the 1970s.
“Today, some companies take advantage of an exception in the rule to make their lower-wage employees, who really should be paid hourly, they're making them work 50, 60, sometimes 70 hours a week without paying them an extra dime,” he said. “In extreme cases, it’s possible for workers to actually earn less than the minimum wage. So they essentially label somebody as management instead of a worker, even if they’re making, like, $25,000. … That’s a way of getting around the minimum wage. It’s not fair.”
In this town that that counts Kwik Trip as one of its most significant employers, the support was swift and raucous. Backed by signs that said nothing more than “Middle-Class Economics,” Obama made his case for fairer wages and better working conditions. Certainly, he was riding the high that a few weeks of important wins could only bring, from the affirmation of his healthcare bill to legalized marriage for same-sex couples; to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the president signed into law, which ensures, among other things, various labor and environmental protections.
“I’m going to keep pushing for trade that is fair and that creates a race not to the bottom, but to the top—that creates better wages and better working conditions,” the president said. “Because when the playing field is level, American workers always win. They always win. We know how to work. Americans know how to work.”
The President admitted it would be difficult, citing hurdles he maneuvered in passing the healthcare bill and the long road back to black from the early years of the Great Recession. But anything’s possible, he said, when the country invests in its infrastructure, improving roads, building bridges and devoting money to research and cutting-edge technology.
“That’s how we’re going to help more middle-class families succeed in a new and changing economy,” he said. “We can’t stop the economy globally from changing, but we can make sure we’re at the forefront of adapting to it.”
And then the president walked from the stage, waving to an amped-up crowd on the brink of a July 4th holiday weekend, to the tune of a Bruce Springsteen song.
Click here to view President Obama's complete remarks, or watch the video below.
Click here for facts about the new overtime regulations.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.