Interior Delegation Chair
Pete Kelly
Weekly Legislative Update Contact: Lorna Ramert (907) 465-2327 March 19, 1997
House Bill 68 : An Editorial by Rep. Gene Therriault
What if you wanted the opportunity to increase your yearly pay while having more time with your family, but were prohibited by state law? This is the dilemma faced by workers at Fort Knox, which prompted me to introduce House Bill 68, an act allowing workers at year-round surface metal mines to negotiate flexible work plans.
I was approached by Fort Knox mine representatives with a petition signed by the mine's employees which asked the Legislature to amend the law allowing the employees to establish a voluntary flexible work plan. I contacted employees to verify that there had been no coercion to sign the petition and was assured that there was no pressure and in fact, they were enthusiastic about the proposed change.
Currently, most employees at Fort Knox work 21 days every four weeks and are compensated for 8 hours of overtime pay. The proposed change would allow the employees to work 14 days every four weeks including 16 hours of overtime. Therefore, they would receive an additional ninety days off each year and would actually see an increase in their annual take-home pay.
HB 68 contains provisions to help the mine employees reach their goal as well as limit the potential for abuse. For example, the bill requires the following criteria to be met before an exemption is granted. First, the employer and the employee must write out a work plan agreeing that no more than 40 hours a week may be worked without overtime. Second, the plan must be filed with the Department of Labor; and finally, the Commissioner must approve the plan. Individual employees are then given the option of revoking their approval on a yearly basis. This process is identical to the current system for the ten hour exemption used by many employers including the Daily News-Miner and Teamsters Local 959.
Current law allows employees in any industry working under a voluntary flexible work plan to work 10 hours a day or up to 40 hours a week without overtime. However, individuals who exercise this option cannot work more than 10 hours even if they are paid overtime for the eleventh and twelfth hours. Due to this restriction, the mine employees have asked for the exemption proposed in HB 68. The Commissioner of Labor would still be required to approve the work plan. I believe the bill offers more protection for the workers than cutting wages in order to skirt around the law with no oversight as some union leaders have suggested.
I disagree with the comment that HB 68 will impact overtime pay to employees in other industries working long daily shifts. The amended version of the bill is narrowly drafted to prevent this from happening. Charges have also been made that passage of this bill will force employees to work as many as eight hours a day, seven days a week without the benefit of overtime. Clearly, the bill and current law requires overtime pay for any hours worked past forty in a work week. This provision is identical to the federal standard which is the law in forty-seven other states.
California, Nevada and Alaska are the only states with the 8-hour standard and overtime compensation laws enforcing the standard. However, California law allows a regular work day of up to 12 hours without overtime if the proposed daily work hour schedule is approved by a 2/3 majority of the employees. In addition, surface mining operations in California are exempt from the 8 hour overtime law.
Nevada has also established specific exemptions to its eight hour standard. Like Alaska, Nevada exempts voluntary work plans of up to 10 hours per day without overtime. Furthermore, Nevada law provides that employees who earn at least 1.5 times the rate of minimum wage are not guaranteed overtime if they work in excess of eight hours a day. Employee approval of these work schedules is not required. Thus, Alaska is the only state which Ft. Knox employees are prevented by law from pursuing the 12-hour work day schedule they desire.
Alaska law currently excludes numerous categories of employees from the 8 hour overtime rule. For example, employees of mines that employ less than 12 people, agriculture employees, hatchery workers, and all unionized employees are exempt from the eight hour overtime law making them free to negotiate whatever work schedule they wish.
By working through the committee process, I believe many of the concerns about the overall impact of HB 68 have been addressed. The men and women working at Fort Knox would like to have the same flexibility to negotiate with their employer that tens of thousands of other Alaskans currently enjoy. HB 68 will mean more money, more time with family, and less commute time. I have listened to concerns, made changes through the committee process and I believe that the passage of HB 68 is the right thing to do.
Toll-Free Connection to Your Legislators
Many of your Legislators have set up toll-free telephone numbers to help you keep in touch. These members of the Interior Delegation have toll-free numbers:
Rep. Pete Kelly 800-336-7383
Rep. Jeannette James 800-565-3743
Rep. Gene Therriault 800-860-4797
Rep. John Davies 800-928-4457
Sen. Gary Wilken 888-240-3709
The following legislators have routed their Fairbanks office numbers directly to their Juneau offices:
Rep. Tom Brice 456-7423
Sen. Bert Sharp 452-7885
Finally, Sen. Mike Miller and Rep. Al Vezey both accept collect calls from constituents. Their Juneau telephone numbers are:
Sen. Mike Miller 465-4976
Rep. Al Vezey 465-3719
Please don't hesitate to contact us on issues that are important to you!
Brown Bag Lunches
Brown bag lunches for the Interior Delegation to meet with constituents visiting the capitol are scheduled for the following Thursdays:
Please come join us if you will be in Juneau. We are happy to schedule lunches for an off Thursday. Just let us know!
Teleconferences
Legislative Teleconferences with the Interior Delegation are scheduled for the following alternate Tuesdays from 7-8pm:
These meetings are broadcast over KUAC and we welcome you to participate. You may go to the LIO on Cushman St. or call 1-800-478-7612. We hope to hear from you!
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