Dont Eat American Beef

[homes007]

well i can honestly say it looks good on the americans to find the mad cow disease amongst there own,being a one time candian but now in mexico i am sure glad the people of the world are giving them some of there tactics,and its going to hurt specially with a cripling economy and it sure does look good on them,i must say,now they can feel whats its like to loose a billion dollar industry,maybe if it would only sink in to there heads a bit to treat others with some respect they would get some back themselves at a time when things are a little rough.nothing against the people just at the arrogence the u.s.a govenment game they play,i would just only wish that canada would shut the borders down completly lñike they did to us just so they could feel the pinch themselves,and to feel whats its like,anyway nothing personal to the person who reads this but its the governments that play the games not the people

[Dean_M_Love]

....being from the Prairies where there is alot of farmers, I have seen and herd (get it, herd?) first hand of just how difficult this has been for so many, and of course many people also speculated that the reaction from the U.S. to the single mad cow in Canada was partially retaliation for not going to Iraq....it certainly isn't a problem we should wish on anyone, but I certainly thought there was a hint of poetic justice involved when the USA now has there own case of Mad Cow....

[daxaye]

I got a kick out of the US Ag Sect.'s news conference yesterday. She looked like a mad cow caught in headlights.LOL
I guess they will now experience what it's like to be banned from the world markets. Maybe next time they'll have a little more compassion for their number one trading partner.
I expect Bush will solve the problem as he always does by giving someone a tax break.
I haven't had anything to smirk about for a long time..this feels good.

[HotRodTodd]

Yeah us rich american farmers(NOT)can really afford to take another beating because of bullsh_t like this. Unbelieveable

[barkleyj]

yeah.... those American cattlemen are really raking in tons of money. Why find joy in their misfortune when it is politics? I am American and don't agree with everything my government does. I don't agree with a lot of other governments either, but I hate to see innocent people suffer because of things like this.

[homes007]

it is so funny how the americans can now get on tv,CNN,and have the adosity to tell everyone just because there was only one cow found,there is no problem,hahahhahahhahahahhahahahahhahahahah,but when only one cow is found in canada and only about an 8 hour drive away by car its a whole bunch of problems,well all i can say is i really hope that a few farmers loose there ranches to greedy bankers and loose there belonging they have worked for all there lives,because of lost buisness!!!!and then just maybe these people will put the pressure on there government to start treating other people more fairly around the world,funny how something always comes back to kick ya in the ass,sorry but im just furious that your farmers can come on tv and say its such a minor thing to find one,but when they only found one here in canada its was claimed as a disaster by the american farmers,that was only said so they could fill there own pockets
all i can say is i hope you farmers who gained by our misfortune didnt spend the bonus money all in one place and saved some for a rainy day

[HotRodTodd]

well all i can say is i really hope that a few farmers loose there ranches to greedy bankers and loose there belonging they have worked for all there lives,because of lost buisness!!!!and then just maybe these people will put the pressure on there government to start treating other people more fairly around the world,

Hey Moron, tell us how you persuaded your government to let you watch tv from outside your country and maybe we can use your method to work on our government. Oh wait, you didnt put enough pressure on your gov did you because you lost that battle. Its morons like yourself that actually think we have some control over what our govt does and doesnt do. Heres a CLUE FOR YOU, just as you cant get your gov to do something as simple as let you watch what you want on tv. We cant get ours to do what the majority of the population thinks is right either. Dont blame what the media does on the farmers even though i dont remember ever hearing about your mad cow problems. But i would go see your doctor and get tested because if anyone has the disease its you!
Farming is feeding you and the world,20% feeding the world actually.
As farmers here we cant select who we even sell our crops to. So changing what the govt does is a little more difficult than your small mind can understand.

[barkleyj]

HotRodTodd...

I couldn't have said it better!

[homes007]

sorry get pissed all u want its the american way,all i know is i have freinds and family in the industry that have suffered greatly because u shut the borders down to us(our beef)and when a 1 single cow was found here its was the end of our cattle buisness for you guys,now when the ---- hits your own backyard its played down like there is nothing wrong,the reason u shut the borders down was greed,you guys once again found a way of taking from someone else and trying to justify it,anyway typical ,and why bring up sateliete?how many people does that hurt,hahahhahahhahah,like i say we may not be able to watch tv at night as our government controls it but iu must say we do sleep good over here,and no worrys of shrapnel falling out of the sky, and the reason we sleep good is because we dont ---- with people,to bad your government cant treat people fairly,if they did they just may actually get along with the world population,nwo the reason you get along is because you have a ethic,do as we say or we will do it for you,good eg is going in to take weapons of mass destruction,try mass deposits of oil.
if you can dish some out be prepared to take it

[HotRodTodd]

You just dont get it do you? I didnt shut your border down. The population of the USA didnt shut the border down, the friggin govt -------s did. What do you think, that they ask the citizens before they do something? Thats not how it works here or anywhere that i know of. The point i was trying to make to your dumbass about the sat issue is you said we should persuade our govt to do things. Well you didnt persuade your govt for something as simple as tv. So how the hell could we persuade our govt to ignore middle eastern terrorists? And your wrong the american way is to kick anyones ass who pisses us off. Especially ragheads that bomb our citys,hijack planes,kidnap and murder our people. I cant help it that you are some sort of pussy who would let things like that go unavenged. You work on changing how govt beaurocrats do things and be sure to tell us how much success you have forcing your beliefs on them.

[SpeedTrap47]

Investigators Trace Diseased Cow to Canada
By EMILY GERSEMA

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Holstein infected with mad cow disease in Washington state was imported into the United States from Canada about two years ago, federal investigators tentatively concluded Saturday.

Dr. Ron DeHaven, chief veterinarian for the Agriculture Department, said Canadian officials have provided records that indicate the animal was one of a herd of 74 cattle that were shipped from Alberta, Canada, into this country in August 2001 at Eastport, Idaho. It joined the Washington state herd in October 2001.

``These animals were all dairy cattle and entered the U.S. only about two or two-and-a-half years ago, so most of them are still likely alive,'' DeHaven said.

DeHaven emphasized that just because the sick cow was a member of that herd, it does not mean that all 74 animals are infected.

Canada, which found a case mad cow disease in Alberta in May.

Just days after the discovery of the nation's first case of mad cow disease, the United States has lost nearly all of its beef exports as more than a dozen countries stopped buying American beef as insurance against potential infection.

Based on the Canadian records, the diseased cow was 6 1/2-years-old - older than U.S. officials had thought, DeHaven said. U.S. papers on the cow said she was 4- or 4 1/2-years-old.

The age is significant because the United States and Canada have banned feed that could be the source of infection since 1997.

Farmers used to feed their animals meal containing tissue from other cattle and livestock to fatten them. Health officials in both countries banned such feed because infected tissue - such as the brain and spinal cord - could be in the meal.

The Agriculture Department also has recalled an estimated 10,000 pounds of meat cut from the infected cow and from 19 other cows all slaughtered Dec. 9 at Vern's Moses Lake Meat Co., in Moses Lake, Wash.

Ken Peterson, of the department's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said officials still are trying to track down the meat.

He and other department officials have stressed that the U.S. meat is still considered safe because the animal's brain and spinal cord were removed before the meat was processed.

Officials say the slaughtered cow was deboned at Midway Meats in Centralia, Ore., and the meat - though no contaminated spinal or brain tissue - was sent to two other plants in the region, identified as Willamette and Interstate Meat, both near Portland, Ore.

Mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, is a public health concern because it is related to a human disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob. In Britain, 143 people died of the human illness after an outbreak of mad cow in the 1980s. People can get it if they eat meat containing tissue from the brain and spine of an infected cow.

The animal most likely became sick from eating contaminated feed, so investigators with the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates animal feed, are tracking down what it ate. That is a difficult task because the cow may have gotten the disease years ago, long before it showed signs that it was sick.

Dr. Stephen Sundlof, head of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said the agency also is trying to account for all of the products made from the cow. This includes items like soap and soil.

FDA is ``trying to trace down any byproducts from processing of the cow to keep it from getting into other products that FDA regulates, including feeds,'' Sundlof said.

Gregg Doud, an economist for the Denver-based National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said Friday that the United States stands to lose at least $6 billion a year in exports and falling domestic prices because of the sick cow.

``We've lost roughly 90 percent of our export market just in the last three days,'' Doud said.

Keith Collins, the Agriculture Department's chief economist, said the market probably will not see the full economic impact of the mad cow case until trading intensifies after the holidays. He has said that 10 percent of U.S. beef is exported.

Japan, South Korea and Mexico are among the top buyers that banned American beef imports this week after the U.S. government announced it had found a cow in Washington state sick with the brain-wasting illness.

An international lab in England confirmed that diagnosis Thursday. By Saturday, when tiny Kuwait joined the import ban, the list of countries had topped two dozen.

A U.S. delegation is leaving Saturday for Japan, which takes about one-third of all U.S. beef exports, and possibly other Asian countries that imposed bans on American meat and livestock this week. The Treasury Department said it is monitoring developments.

Federal officials on Friday quarantined a herd of 400 bull calves, one of which is an offspring of the sick cow. During its life, the infected cow bore three calves.

One calf is still at the same dairy near Mabton, Wash., that was the final home of the diseased Holstein cow. That herd was quarantined earlier. Another calf is at a bull calf feeding operation in Sunnyside, Wash., and a third died shortly after being born in 2001, said DeHaven.

``There is the potential that the infected cow could pass the disease onto its calves,'' he said. No decision has been made on destroying the herds, he said.

Investigators are focused on finding the birth herd of the cow, since it likely was infected several years ago from eating contaminated feed, DeHaven said. Scientists say the incubation period for the disease in cattle is four or five years.

[Grayone]

Originally posted by homes007
well i can honestly say it looks good on the americans to find the mad cow disease amongst there own,being a one time candian but now in mexico i am sure glad the people of the world are giving them some of there tactics,and its going to hurt specially with a cripling economy and it sure does look good on them,i must say,now they can feel whats its like to loose a billion dollar industry,maybe if it would only sink in to there heads a bit to treat others with some respect they would get some back themselves at a time when things are a little rough.nothing against the people just at the arrogence the u.s.a govenment game they play,i would just only wish that canada would shut the borders down completly lñike they did to us just so they could feel the pinch themselves,and to feel whats its like,anyway nothing personal to the person who reads this but its the governments that play the games not the people

Did you happen to see where that cow came from. It was traced back to Canada. It was shipped across the border about 2 years
ago with some others and as it takes 4 to 5 years for it show up in
a cow so the disease was started in Canada not in the States
:(

[DoctorNik]

it is only assumed it came from Canada, there is no definite proof as yet.. maybe never will be....
they could even find that it is linked to the one Canada had that came from the States....

Yes,, it can 4-5 years to manifest itself,,, it can also manifest itself in less than 2.... so.. let's wait for the evidence to be found and produced before pointing fingers and laying blame. Gotta remember,, the USDA has had trouble producing records of Mad Cow testing since July of this year, even to the point of a court order in the first part of December,,, it seems strange that they can then trace this in only a couple of days....

[Dean_M_Love]

...this cow probably came in the same shipment as the yellowcake uranium that Saddam was buying from Africa....

[sanfam93]

Let's all play nice!!! And hopfully the price of beef will come down enough for us all to enjoy again. JMHO.

[RiseStar]

I personally find it amazing how the Bush administration can toy with peoples fears and anxieties on a daily basis and yet it seems that the average Joe public still has faith in him.

I have lost count of the amount of times that I have picked up my newspaper and saw an article about another "Terrorist warning" or a "Canadian mad cow scare" etc. Every week its something new so as to keep people scared so they continue to support Bush's policies which take far more freedoms away from everyone in the U.S. than they could ever hope to protect.

How about Tom Ridge telling americans to stock up on duct tape to keep terrorists gas out of their homes and millions of americans rush out and buy everyone out.

Saddam? You spent how many Billions of dollars in Iraq and low and behold Saddam is found hiding in a hole right at the same time as Bush is winding up for 2004 campaign. What excellent timing. :)

Fact is, Bush's focus on Terror and attacking middle Eastern countries have shifted the focus away from what really matters. Your economy is in a death spiral, your dollar is plummeting to Earth like a wounded duck, your national un-employment is at a long time high, your government has now more power to spy on you and arrest you for no reason than ever in your entire history.

I've also lost count of the amount of times a crisis has happened in the USA and someone in the Bush Administration has attempted to blame Canada. The terrorists came across the border from Canada...

Seems to me that when you cross the border from Canada into the USA you are greeted by the U.S. customs, not Canadian customs, so you let them in not us.

Remember the big power failure earlier this year? It had to be Canada fault right? Wrong. It was your own aged power grid.

One case of mad cow in Canada was enough to cause the trigger happy Bush Admin to close the border for months as it was sensationalized as an epidemic. Now the shoe is on the other foot and what is your government trying to do? As always, to pass the buck.

Mad cow disease is aquired, much like AIDS, a cow is not born with it, it is aquired from allowing cows to eat other cow remains instead of feeding them properly. So in other words, even if the cow did originally come from Canada, which I doubt as the odds are not in your favor there, it more than likely was infected later once already in the U.S.

I suppose that our government could have given yours a taste of your own protectionist medicine, the fact that they have not as of yet shows that we are not that petty as we understand first hand how trigger happy government officials can damage foreign economies. Perhaps if your president was not so concerned with "scoring one for good ole dad" he would be capable of learning a thing or two about restraint and making informed decisions.

Point is, your own government has all of you wrapped around their little finger and by the time you figure it all out, you will be lucky if you can use a public washroom that isn't equipped with a 24 hour camera to record camode injustices...

[barkleyj]

ALL governments are flawed. Everyone seems to think 100% of the American people agree with the American government 100% of the time. George Bush never called me and asked me my opinion on going to Iraq. Some Canadians seem to think I personally had a say. Do all Canadians agree with their government ALL the time? Is the Canadian government perfect? I think NO government is perfect.

[sanfam93]

It all to funny that drunks will kill way more then mad cow will ever but not bans on alcohol.

[SpeedTrap47]

Originally posted by sanfam93
It all to funny that drunks will kill way more then mad cow will ever but not bans on alcohol.

been tried before check your history book

[Mechanic]

Rise, I agree with you except, "your own government has all of you wrapped around their little finger", remember the majority of the US voters never voted for Bush, hopefully the rest will wake up before the next election.
The main problem seems to be the golden rule, he who has the gold makes the rules.

[robinhood]

Originally posted by RiseStar
I personally find it amazing how the Bush administration can toy with peoples fears and anxieties on a daily basis and yet it seems that the average Joe public still has faith in him.

I have lost count of the amount of times that I have picked up my newspaper and saw an article about another "Terrorist warning" or a "Canadian mad cow scare" etc. Every week its something new so as to keep people scared so they continue to support Bush's policies which take far more freedoms away from everyone in the U.S. than they could ever hope to protect.

How about Tom Ridge telling americans to stock up on duct tape to keep terrorists gas out of their homes and millions of americans rush out and buy everyone out.

Saddam? You spent how many Billions of dollars in Iraq and low and behold Saddam is found hiding in a hole right at the same time as Bush is winding up for 2004 campaign. What excellent timing. :)

Fact is, Bush's focus on Terror and attacking middle Eastern countries have shifted the focus away from what really matters. Your economy is in a death spiral, your dollar is plummeting to Earth like a wounded duck, your national un-employment is at a long time high, your government has now more power to spy on you and arrest you for no reason than ever in your entire history.

I've also lost count of the amount of times a crisis has happened in the USA and someone in the Bush Administration has attempted to blame Canada. The terrorists came across the border from Canada...

Seems to me that when you cross the border from Canada into the USA you are greeted by the U.S. customs, not Canadian customs, so you let them in not us.

Remember the big power failure earlier this year? It had to be Canada fault right? Wrong. It was your own aged power grid.

One case of mad cow in Canada was enough to cause the trigger happy Bush Admin to close the border for months as it was sensationalized as an epidemic. Now the shoe is on the other foot and what is your government trying to do? As always, to pass the buck.

Mad cow disease is aquired, much like AIDS, a cow is not born with it, it is aquired from allowing cows to eat other cow remains instead of feeding them properly. So in other words, even if the cow did originally come from Canada, which I doubt as the odds are not in your favor there, it more than likely was infected later once already in the U.S.

I suppose that our government could have given yours a taste of your own protectionist medicine, the fact that they have not as of yet shows that we are not that petty as we understand first hand how trigger happy government officials can damage foreign economies. Perhaps if your president was not so concerned with "scoring one for good ole dad" he would be capable of learning a thing or two about restraint and making informed decisions.

Point is, your own government has all of you wrapped around their little finger and by the time you figure it all out, you will be lucky if you can use a public washroom that isn't equipped with a 24 hour camera to record camode injustices...


Rise, I admit you are guilty of being correct on all counts...You could have added as well the faultering education system and our piss-poor healthcare system...

I like you have to ask where was US Customs when it came time to quarrentine these and no telling how many other animals for this and other diseases...

I cannot place the blame on any other governmental environment except the ill-fate'd US Gov't...

Their values are not in the correct place...Bush does try and lead by fear and it transferres to other sectors of our society...take for example...Dave's extortion tactics to use fear in extorting money from common citizens...The RIAA uses these same tactics of management...Heck!!!, almost every organization tries to rule by fear...

The Governmental administration still continues to look past Saudi Arabia/The EU/and others as they fund the PLO terrorist organization...Heck we as Americans send them 50million annually to be non-cooperative in the Peace effort and constant blame is pushed on Israel...(that is 50,000,000 of hard earned taxpayer money, that could be used for our education or healthcare system)

This doesn't even take into account the stupidity of our Judicial system that is totally out of bounds by making the decisions they have made this year alone!!! This is bordering on systimatic suicide of Democracy

"Helter Skelter Management" first coined by Charley Manson's style of rule over his people, now used in business styles of organizational behavior...

this goes deeper than we can discuss here and has to do with current foreign affairs of our government...

Since this all started we have an update...Canadian Gov't and American Gov't, along with their state departments, are having the biggest feast yet...During the third week of January 2004 by order of the FDA all officials and their immediate families will take part in a week long feast to be known here after as the "Feast to Awaken"... http://money.excite.com/ht/nw/bus/20031229/hle_bus-n29319394.html This will further help our struggling economy and drive the price of Beef skyward...

The Menu will be lead by the strict Atkins Diet of Beef...To prove a point this will not be regular beef yet, it will be all known diseased carring cattle of Canada and the US of known carring, bovine spongiform encephalopathy or better known as "Mad Cow".

All ranchers and farmers of diseased animals are to load and haul all the animals to Camp David during the second week of January 2004, please just let US Customs know they are diseased and made special for this event...for any problems with entry or reimbursment call G. W. Bush at (202)456-1414...another note: Please make sure that these are known diseased animals so the enjoyment of their families and colleagues who have so volunteered to prove the point that the consumption of these diseased animals are not harmful to Canadian or American people only Europeans, where an outbreak not to long ago left at least 145 dead along with the destruction of 6,000,000 head of prime English Beef.

For further information please contact:
The USDA http://www.usda.gov/da/

[EUGENE1]

"A country that can feed itself is a country
that is more secure in its borders."
— G. W. Bush

[EUGENE1]

All one can do is laugh and laugh. I have compared Bush and his administration to that of Hitler and his clan for years.

Amazing how this guy who wasn't even elected by his people is still allowed to flap his gums. He has led America to financial dissaray and a new vietnam.



"[Saddam] built up a massive war
machine while neglecting the basic
needs of his own people."
— G. W. Bush
(Source: The Whitehouse)

[RiseStar]

Yes, the U.S. and Canadian electorial processes certainly differ in many respects. If your electorial process was not the complex one that it is then you would have an entirely different commander in chief than you have today.

I very much believe that there was a lot of hanky panky going on, especially in Florida during the last election and very likely a lot of good votes that were against Bush somehow fund their way into the trash...

Our weakness in our electorial process is that all the different provinces do not have an equal say, for example all all that is required for a national win is a majority of seats in Ontario and Quebec which hold more than all the rest of Canada combined. As what happened in the last federal election, all of the western and far eastern provinces were ignored and voted against the liberals, but they got in anyways because the were favored in Ontario and Quebec where they had spent their campaign dollars. IMHO, it should be equal across canada to ensure national solidarity and eliminate alienation of certain areas of the country.

I guess we will see in 2004 exactly how many people in the U.S. that have fallen under the Bush spell of fear and paranoia. For your sakes, I hope that a lot of people begin to wake up because if the U.S. economy is weakening now, consider how it will look if Bush gets in again and continues to spent America bankrupt by wiping out all the rest of the middle eastern countries on his hit list.

[Mechanic]

Canada sounds about as screwed up as the US, and our Electoral College.

[dssdog]

Sounds like your all those Almanac carrying terrorists!:eek:

[homes007]

well i just returned to canada figured i would come and see where this post has gone and woooohoooooooooo,sad to say but i hope the american cattlemen can feel the joy in 2004 like we have in 2003,i dont care where at cow came from,do u think if that cow that was found in alberta in 2003 would have made a difference to our economy if we turned around and said it was from japan,nota a chance!!!,as far as im concerned i look at it this way,if i was a person smoking and lived in alberta,and then moved to washinton to live and still smoked and then learned i got cancer,who would you throw the law suit to????????? alberta????i dont think so,i would take my losses and not throw the blame anywhere.
maybe one of the governments will learn to be a little more fair with there biggest trading partner now as the ---- fell in e own shoe like someone has said.
just funny how the government can really tell the people in the usa that the beef is safe to eat after shutting our border down and causing billion dollar losses saying the beef is not safe,talk about contridicting themselves

[JDKing]

well i will be eating my burger and steak, while spending my tax cut money all the way to my excelent economy to the voting booth to vote for MY PRESIDENT BUSH. come you American dumbocrats get over it already al lost! and the dumbocrtats will loose again and again! the nation has woken up to your tactics and has swung to the right. as far as this canadian/us mad cow goes who cares, britney got married and divorced in the same day and the news is off of the story. for other countries to ban import of us or canadian beef is PROTOCAL, until us them can find out what and where we went wrong. the export will re-open and they will still be looking for our fine steaks...and believe me they are better here than anywhere i've been. Aint TEXAS grand.

JK:cool:

[Mechanic]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/7642076.htm

Labor Dept. offers ways not to pay overtime

While touting the benefits of new overtime rules for poor workers, the Labor Department offers pointers on how to avoid paying the extra wages.
BY LEIGH STROPE
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Labor Department is giving employers tips on how to avoid paying overtime to some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would become eligible under new rules expected to be finalized early this year.

The department's advice comes even as it touts the $895 million in increased wages that it says those workers would be guaranteed from the reforms.

Among the options for employers: cut workers' hourly wages and add the overtime to equal the original salary, or raise salaries to the new $22,100 annual threshold, making them ineligible.

The department says it is merely listing well-known choices available to employers, even under current law.

''We're not saying anybody should do any of this,'' said Labor Department spokesman Ed Frank.

New overtime regulations were proposed in March after employers complained that they were being saddled with costly lawsuits filed by workers who claimed they were unfairly being denied overtime. But the regulations themselves have stirred controversy over how many workers would be stripped of their right to overtime pay.

The issue is being seized on by Democrats in their attempt to win back Congress and the White House.

A final rule, revising the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, is expected to be issued in March. The act defines the types of jobs that qualify workers for time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours a week.

Overtime pay for the 1.3 million low-income workers has been a selling tool for the Bush administration in trying to ease concerns in Congress about millions of higher-paid workers becoming ineligible.

But the Labor Department, in a summary of its plan published in March, suggests how employers can avoid paying overtime to those newly eligible low-income workers.

''Most employers affected by the proposed rule would be expected to choose the most cost-effective compensation adjustment method,'' the department said. For some companies, the financial impact could be ``near zero.''

Employers' options include:

• Adhering to a 40-hour workweek.

• Raising workers' salaries to a new $22,100 annual threshold, making them ineligible for overtime pay.

If employers raise a worker's salary ''it means they're getting a raise -- that's not a way around overtime,'' Frank said. The current threshold is $8,060 per year.

• Making a ''payroll adjustment'' that results ''in virtually no, or only a minimal increase in labor costs,'' the department said. Workers' annual pay would be converted to an hourly rate and cut, with overtime added in to equal the former salary.

Essentially, employees would be working more hours for the same pay.

The department does not view the ''payroll adjustment'' option as a pay cut. Rather, it allows the employer to ''maintain the pay at the current level'' with the new overtime requirements, said the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division administrator, Tammy McCutchen.

Labor unions criticized the employer options.

Mark Wilson, a lawyer for the Communications Workers of America who specializes in overtime issues, said the Bush administration was protecting the interests of employers at the expense of workers.

''This plan speaks volumes about the real motives of this so-called family-friendly administration,'' Wilson said.

He says cutting workers' pay to avoid overtime is illegal, on the basis of a 1945 Supreme Court ruling and a 1986 memo by the Labor Department under President Reagan.

But McCutchen disagreed. If changes were made week to week to avoid overtime, they would be illegal. A one-time change is not, she said.

''We had a lot of lawyers look at this rule. We would not have put that in there if we thought it was illegal,'' she said.

''Unless you have a contract, there is no legal rule . . . prohibiting an employer from either raising your salary or cutting your salary,'' she said. ``We do not anticipate employers will cut people's pay.''

The final plan does not require approval from Congress.

That hasn't stopped Democrats and some Republicans from trying to block the rule, so far unsuccessfully, out of fear that millions of workers would become ineligible for overtime.