ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, August 8, 1996               TAG: 9608080004
SECTION: EDITORIAL                PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO 

FAMILY VALUE `WORKING FOOLS' NEED FLEX TIME

PRESIDENT CLINTON these days is getting a lot of political support from unions, but he should take care not to toil for every item on their agenda. For example, he should signal his support now for a "flex-time" bill that Big Labor opposes.

This measure, which the House has passed, would give American workers the option to choose time off from work instead of overtime pay. If that sounds familiar, it's probably because Clinton made a similar flex-time proposal in June.

The major difference, as we read it, is that the House-passed bill is the handiwork of Republicans. Unions and their congressional supporters call it flimflam flex time. They claim that, if there's no union representation, employers would pressure workers into accepting compensatory time instead of overtime pay. Never mind that the measure explicitly forbids employers from coercing workers to accept comp time or from dictating when workers must take it.

The unions' opposition is not reasonable. Many unionized workers and government employees have the comp-time option now. Overtime pay, moreover, is not an unmitigated blessing. In many union shops, senior workers ``bump'' newer, lower-paid workers out of opportunities to work extra hours and add to their paychecks. The newer workers, who are less influential in union hierarchies, also tend to be the first laid off if a company is forced to cut operating costs.

By permitting more people to share the same number hours of work, flex-time provisions might allow more businesses to avoid layoffs, thus providing greater job security. Just as important, if not more so, flex time could mean stronger families and healthier children.

American workers, as Clinton described them in June, have become ``working fools.'' The president said it not disparagingly, but in recognition that many people are required to put in so many hours on the job that they have little time or energy left for families, recreation or church and civic activities. Polls indicate that a majority of workers desperately want more time for family and personal interests, even at the cost of some pay.

Clinton should heed those workers, not the union bosses.

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