WASHINGTON (PAI)- President George W. Bush's plan to cut eight million U.S. workers from eligibility for overtime pay isn't quite a done deal, as we reported last month. But it's close.

Organized labor got a new chance to campaign against the measure when Senate Democratic Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) on Dec. 9 used a procedural move to delay a voice vote and temporarily blocked a $373 billion spending measure that funds one-sixth of the government. That left the bill in limbo until Jan. 20, when Congress reconvenes from its recess.

Labor will use Congress' recess to resume and increase its campaign against the plan in the Senate. The House passed the bill on Dec. 8, then quit for the year.

The huge spending bill funds the Labor Department and numerous other agencies. However, it lacks a previously inserted provision, passed by both the GOP-run House and the GOP-run Senate, to keep workers eligible for overtime pay. President Bush has put a great deal of pressure on lawmakers to block workers' overtime eligibility.

The Bush Administration touted its plan as a major benefit to low-income workers earning less than $22,100 per year, who would have their rights to overtime spelled out. But the AFL-CIO has pointed out that most of those workers are already eligible for overtime pay.

Bush "wants to shelve the 40-hour work-week and deny workers extra income in uncertain economic times in order to please big business," AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney said. "During the recess, workers will intensify their campaign to defeat the spending bill" by contacting lawmakers "and urging them to reconsider" the overtime issue, he added.

Under the Bush proposal, workers, including nonunion police officers, nurses, store supervisors and many others, would face unpredictable work schedules and reduced pay because of a loss of overtime and imposed comp time. Employers would get the last say on who is re-classified.

According to the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute, workers making more than $22,100 a year could be denied overtime pay under the proposed changes if they are simply reclassified as "professional," "administrative," or "executive" employees, exempt from federal overtime rules, as Bush's proposal would allow. Employers would also have the final say on imposing when, and if, employees would be forced to take comp time in lieu of overtime.

Workers who toil under a collective bargaining contract aren't at immediate risk of losing overtime pay - but many employers are expected to leap at the opportunity to impose comp time at their first opportunity.