Legislators Fight Overtime "Loophole"  By: Tony Tagliavia By:
Tony Tagliavia  You might expect Michigan truckers like Jim
Irwin to want overtime pay for their 10-plus hour shifts.
"We're already working it. It'd be nice to get paid for it,"
Irwin said.  But some say if truckers get that overtime, there
could be fewer of them.  "If we don't fix this, a lot of jobs
are going to leave Michigan," Rep. Rick Jones (R - Grand Ledge)
said Tuesday.  Jones is talking about what he sees as an
indirect consequence of Michigan's coming minimum wage increase.
Because the new state minimum wage will be higher than the
federal minimum, exemptions allowing truckers, nurses and others
to work shifts longer than eight hours without overtime will go
away.  And since hospitals, for example, aren't likely to want
to pay overtime for nurses, it could mean eight hour shifts
instead of the usual 12.  That idea doesn't sit well with the
Michigan Nurses Assocation.  "They have enjoyed their flexible
work schedules and have enjoyed th