Washington: Capitol Hill Sweatshop
Deep in the bowels of the building, the employees toil in cramped, poorly ventilated rooms, working up to 70 hours a week without overtime. A Dickensian tale about a 19th century sweatshop? Hardly. The scene takes place in the mail "folding room" of the U.S. House of Representatives, where workers have long complained about "prison-like" conditions of employment.
The quiet scandal, uncovered by the Washington newspaper Roll Call, exists because Congress may constitutionally exempt itself from compliance with its own laws. As a result, congressional employees are not covered by fair-labor laws and civil rights legislation. Thus workers in the folding room do not receive any pay for the overtime hours they spend stuffing envelopes with legislators' free mailings.
Under an amendment proposed by Texas Republican Steve Bartlett, Congress may be forced to provide better working conditions. The measure would bring more than 1,000 Capitol Hill employees, including grounds keepers, plumbers and mail-room workers, under the protection of the fair-employment act.
Most Popular »
- Sex, Please, We're British: London's Erotica Expo
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- Super-Crocodiles May Have Dined on Dinosaurs
- Toilets
- Woman Loses Benefits over Facebook Photo
- Holiday Shopping: This Year It's a Game of Chicken
- Singh in Washington: Making the Case for India
- Will Private Equity Be the Next Meltdown?
- Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
- The Fall of Greg Craig, Obama's Top Lawyer
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- Will Private Equity Be the Next Meltdown?
- Toilets
- Sex, Please, We're British: London's Erotica Expo
- Super-Crocodiles May Have Dined on Dinosaurs
- Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
- How One Army Town Copes With Post- Traumatic Stress
- The Fall of Greg Craig, Obama's Top Lawyer
- Woman Loses Benefits over Facebook Photo
- The Dark Side of Darwin's Legacy







RSS