ATLANTA (CNN) - Calling to mind his days unloading tractor trailers during the summer, Sen. John Edwards blasted the Bush White House Saturday for endorsing a law that curtails overtime pay for some U.S. workers.
"Why would anyone want to take overtime pay away from as many as six million Americans at a time when they need that money the most?" Edwards asked during the weekly Democratic radio address.
The law, slated to go into effect Monday, redefines guidelines by which employers are required to pay overtime to some U.S. workers.
"Working Americans have to tighten their belts in this economy, and on Monday that belt's about to get a whole lot tighter when this new overtime law starts working," the North Carolina Democrat said.
Edwards listed a wide range of professions that could be affected by the law including computer programmers, line cooks and police sergeants.
"And if you are a nursery school teacher, preparing your classroom for another school year, don't make any number charts that go over forty because anything higher than that just doesn't count in this administration," Edwards said referencing the standard 40-hour work week.
Edwards vowed that, if elected, he and his running mate John Kerry would not deny workers overtime pay.
"We need a president who'll work overtime for you."
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