January 28, 2005

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  Dec 15, 2004
  Schwarzenegger Tries to Create Worker-Bots for Wal-Mart

  
  

     California “Governator” Arnold Schwarzenegger has outraged California workers with a proposal to roll back state laws that protect the right to a lunch break.

  
  

     According to the California Labor Federation, the new rules would allow employers to simply notify workers that they are entitled to a lunch break, then force them to work right on through it. This would be a dramatic change from current California laws, which requires a lunch or rest break before the end of a five-hour shift.

  
  

     The rule change has been widely praised by the California Restaurant Association. Another beneficiary would be Wal-Mart. The Sacramento Bee has reported that one of the reasons for the new rules is a string of lawsuits filed by workers who had been denied their legally required lunch breaks. The most prominent is a class action suit against Wal-Mart that includes 200,000 people.

  
  

     Meanwhile, the Schwarzenegger administration claims that the proposal is merely about offering employees flexibility.

  
  

     Schwarzenegger’s administration pushed the rules through by having the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement issue emergency regulations.

  
  

   

  • 6:27 am
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