The Teamsters Union praised the courage of the Southern California port drivers who today filed a class-action suit against their employer, Sun Pacific Trucking, Inc., and Pacific Green Trucking, Inc., that alleges they were denied minimum wage, meal and rest periods, among other violations rampant in the deregulated industry. According to the driver's attorneys Sun Pacific and Pacific Green Trucking are nothing more than "alter egos" of the same enterprise and both are liable for the violations….
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
PRNewswire: nother Case Against Port Trucking Firm Underscores Widespread Industry Abuse, Disregard of Labor Laws, Teamsters Charge
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
AFL-CIO Blog: Fair Wage Program Ignites Fox News Hysteria
It seems like Fox News, always on the ball, just discovered the “We Can Help” outreach initiative the Labor Department launched in early April to inform workers about their pay rights and put a stop to wage theft. Faux News is now ranting against the department’s efforts to enforce the nation’s wage and hour laws.
We Can Help is a multilingual campaign aimed at low-wage and vulnerable workers with a special focus on reaching employees in such industries as construction, janitorial work, hotel/motel services, food services and home health care. It also will address such topics as…
http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/06/29/fair-wage-program-ignites-fox-news-hysteria/
Texas Civil Rights Review: South Texas Civil Rights Project Fights "Wage Theft"
Each year billions of dollars are ripped off from workers, through all sorts of little scams. It is very common apparently, when workers leave a job, for their employers to “forget” to pay for the last week or so of work. And employers scam billions of dollars annually by underpaying overtime hours. Whether lots of money is involved or not so much, it is still a fairness issue, and wage theft hurts the wage-earners, their dependents and the community. Checking online, I found several organizations fighting against wage theft nationally; it is a huge problem.
One new attorney working on this issue is in the Rio Grande Valley. I met him at the groundbreaking for the new South Texas Civil Rights Project (STCRP) office planned in Alamo. (Their current offices are getting too crowded at Cesar Chavez Road and Business 83.) The lawyer is Elliott Tucker, and he recently joined STCRP after graduating from Georgetown University and spending a year or so with another non-profit organization. I asked for an interview.
Braune: When I spoke to you at the groundbreaking, I was interested in your project and have since looked online and found that this is not a small issue at all. Could you please tell the readers a bit about what you are doing.
Tucker: I am the employment justice attorney for the South Texas Civil Rights Project, where my job is to find both legal and non-legal solutions to…
http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1422
Monday, June 28, 2010
Think Progress: Steve King Slams Sec. Solis For Demanding Employers Pay Immigrants 'Every Cent They Earn'
Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) released an advertisement featuring DOL Secretary Hilda Solis informing viewers that “every worker in America has a right to be paid fully whether documented or not.” The video is meant to promote a government hotline which any worker can call to report wage theft. However, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) believes the ad is an “explicit invitation for illegal immigrants to bring the resources and power of the Department of Labor to bear against American employers.” In a damning press release, King accuses the DOL of engaging in a campaign to protect “illegal aliens” via its anti-wage theft campaign:
“Whether they are using the Department of Labor to support illegal immigrants’ allegations against America’s employers, or the Department of Justice to invalidate Arizona’s illegal immigration enforcement law, this Administration continues to use the limited resources of the American taxpayer on behalf of illegal aliens,” said King. “It is shameful that Secretary Solis has to be reminded that her primary duty is owed to the American people, and not to those who have illegally entered our country. The Obama Administration needs to realize that the American people have a right to have their immigration laws enforced.”
King fails to note that, technically, the DOL is simply following the laws on the book. The National Employment Law Project (NELP) points out that, “[f]ederal courts and state and federal agencies have consistently held that core labor standards, including the right to organize, to a minimum wage, and to protection from discrimination, cover all workers, regardless of immigration status.” In other words, it’s not the DOL’s job to enforce the nation’s immigration laws — that’s under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security.
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/06/23/solis-steve-king/
DC AFL-CIO: JUFJ's "Thinking Jewishly": 2010 Labor On The Bimah
Jews United For Justice's annual Labor on the Bimah program is back, focusing this year on restaurant worker justice. Part of the Interfaith Worker Justice's Labor in the Pulpit/Bimah/Minbar, the program weaves together labor issues, social justice, and Judaism in an effort to bring meaning and reflection back into Labor Day. "We will be working closely with the Restaurant Opportunities Center-DC and Interfaith Worker Justice to address problems such as low wages, wage theft, racial and gender discrimination, and a lack of health insurance and paid sick leave that occur in the restaurant industry," say event organizers. "As always, volunteers are critical to the growing success of Labor on the Bimah, especially as we work to break last year's record participation of 45 congregations!"
People interested in volunteering or connecting your religious community with Labor on the Bimah/Pulpit/Minbar should email Jessie Posilkin, Labor on the Bimah coordinator, at jessie@jufj.org. - Robin Metalitz, Jews United for Justice
http://www.dclabor.org/ht/d/ArticleDetails/i/86060
InTheseTimes: Activists Hash Out a Labor Manifesto at the U.S. Social Forum
DETROIT—Ashim Roy was part of a factory takeover that led to workers running the factory for six years, and helped push legislation mandating that workers and company owners must jointly negotiate the conditions of a closure.
Emma Delgado is an immigrant domestic worker, among the thousands who suffer frequent wage theft, are forced to work with toxic chemicals and other exploitative conditions. They cannot form a union, but they have formed a nationwide alliance of hundreds and are fighting for a national Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, similar to one that passed this month in the New York legislature.
Saket Soni marched from the Gulf Coast to Washington D.C. with Indian guest workers who escaped from slavery-like conditions at a Mississippi shipyard. They held a month-long hunger strike demanding…
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6149/hashing_out_a_labor_platform_at_the_u.s._social_forum/
Media Matters: Right wing discovers long-established Labor Dept. policy on unauthorized workers
Right-wing media have denounced Labor Secretary Hilda Solis' campaign informing vulnerable workers, including the undocumented, about the wage standards to which they are entitled. However, the Labor Department's policy of enforcing labor laws without regard to immigration status long predates the Obama administration; moreover, the enforcement of labor laws is widely seen -- even by those who advocate for greater restrictions on immigration -- as a key to discouraging employers from hiring unauthorized workers.
Right-wing media shocked that Dept. of Labor wants to crack down on exploitation of workers, including the undocumented
"We Can Help" campaign aims to inform workers about "the broad array of services offered by the Department of Labor." Solis announced the "We Can Help" campaign on April 1. A Labor Department press release states, "The effort, which is being spearheaded by the department's Wage and Hour Division, will help connect America's most vulnerable and low-wage workers with the broad array of services offered by the Department of Labor." Contrary to the suggestion made by some bloggers that the campaign and hotline were created solely for undocumented workers, they are aimed at all vulnerable workers, regardless of immigration status….
http://mediamatters.org/research/201006220046
Wage Theft on Menu at Safari World Tapas Bar
A worker from yet another downtown restaurant is partnering with Workers Interfaith Network to try to win her stolen wages back. Zorina Bowen worked at Safari World Tapas Bar on South Main St. as a cook for three weeks last summer to help out the owner, who was a friend. She was only paid $440 of her wages, and she is still owned $1,493. She was fired when she asked for the rest of her pay.
As you may have seen on ABC 24's news last week, WIN members joined with Ms. Bowen to picket the restaurant after many attempts to talk with management. A manager came out to belittle Ms. Bowen for not having enough money to hire a lawyer, and refused to talk privately with WIN staff about our records which show how much she is owed….
http://winmemphis.blogspot.com/2010/06/wage-theft-on-menu-at-safari-world.html
OpEdNews: US Social Forum: Fighting Wage Theft
The US Social Forum (USSF), a convergence of activists, organizers, and engaged citizens from around the country, is underway in Detroit. Numerous organizations have registered to put on workshops throughout the forum. Many leaders from worker advocate organizations will be present with the hopes of networking and mobilizing movements to improve the lives and increase the rights of workers all over this nation.
Ted Smukler, public policy director for Interfaith Workers for Justice (IWJ), will be participating in the USSF part of a workshop called, "Wage Theft: What is It and What Can We Do About It?" Smukler and IWJ will be participating because this event will be "the largest gathering of progressive activists" this year and it will be a great opportunity to network and learn about other issues and organizations in the country.
Interfaith Workers for Justice is a national organization that organizes and mobilizes "the religious community in this country to support the…
http://www.opednews.com/articles/US-Social-Forum-Fighting-by-Kevin-Gosztola-100622-949.html
Monday, June 21, 2010
San Fran Bay Guardian: God's not on the side of the union busters
“God may or may not be on the side of unions, but a Catholic scholars group says that being on the other side, that is being against unions, is a "grave violation" of the church's social doctrine. Opposing unions is, in fact, a mortal sin. And should be.
Anti-union actions violate both the letter and spirit of Catholic social doctrine, declared the Massachusetts- based Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice in a document distributed recently by the Catholic News Service.
Specifically, say the scholars, it violates church doctrine to try to block union organizing campaigns, stall in union contract talks, unilaterally roll back wages and benefits and violate existing labor contracts and other labor-management agreements.
Those tactics are far too common among the tactics used against unions by far too many employers, including many who are Catholic and presumably follow church teachings. That's not to mention the lay employers who operate Catholic hospitals and other facilities for the church and…”
http://www.sfbg.com/bruce/2010/06/21/gods-not-side-union-busters
NYT: As China Aids Labor, Unrest Is Still Rising
“On a hot morning in late May, while some 2,000 workers at a Honda parts factory were striking in China’s south, 100 irate employees at a hotel in the heart of the capital staged their own protest.The Honda workers got lots of publicity. The hotel employees were mostly ignored. But the undercurrent was the same: labor disputes are becoming a common feature of the Chinese economic landscape.
Chinese workers are much more willing these days to defend their rights and demand higher wages, encouraged by recent policies from the central government aimed at protecting laborers and closing the income gap. Chinese leaders dread even the hint of Solidarity-style labor activism. But they have moved to empower workers by pushing through labor laws that signaled that central authorities would no longer tolerate poor workplace conditions, legal scholars and Chinese labor experts say.
The laws, enacted in 2008, were intended to channel worker frustrations through a system of arbitration and courts so no broader protest movements would threaten political stability.
But if recent strikes and a surge in arbitration and court cases reflect a rising worker consciousness partly rooted in awareness of greater legal rights, they also underscore new challenges in China. The labor laws…”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/world/asia/21chinalabor.html?th&emc=th
TruthOut: Kansas City Project Aims to Help Hispanics Collect Unpaid Wages
Jesus Perez was promised $20 an hour to pour concrete for a residential construction company.
But he said he has received nothing for the 160 hours he worked over a three-week period in September and October.
So recently, with the weather bad and construction jobs hard to find, Perez and two co-workers met with volunteers with the Kansas City Worker Justice Project, one of a growing number of nonprofit groups seeking to collect unpaid wages for immigrant workers.
Social service agencies report a rampant problem of wage theft in industries that employ large numbers of Hispanics. They say many undocumented Hispanics don't protest when they aren't paid because they fear deportation.
Further complicating the problem, experts say the federal government is spending less money enforcing wage and hour laws, leaving the burden to states and nonprofits, like the Kansas City Worker Justice Project.
http://www.truth-out.org/article/kansas-city-project-aims-help-hispanics-collect-unpaid-wages
People'sWorld: In English, Chinese and Spanish, low-wage workers demand rights bill
A newly formed coalition, the Progressive Workers' Alliance, is bringing low-wage workers together across language, race and community in a two-pronged struggle - to fight wage theft, violation of workers' rights and unemployment, and to oppose Mayor Gavin Newsom's proposed city budget cuts, which the coalition says would slash vital services and balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable.
In a program conducted in Spanish, Chinese and English, coalition members rallied on the steps of City Hall June 16 to introduce a Low Wage Worker Bill of Rights they say will help to redress the abuses many low-wage workers experience daily on the job.
The Bill of Rights calls for protecting workers' rights and enforcing labor laws, supporting responsible businesses, providing job opportunities and training, protecting the social safety net for all working people, and equal treatment for all workers.
http://www.peoplesworld.org/in-english-chinese-and-spanish-low-wage-workers-demand-rights-bill/
NYT: U.S. Cracks Down on Farmers Who Hire Children
“The Obama administration has opened a broad campaign of enforcement against farmers who employ children and underpay workers, hiring hundreds of investigators and raising fines for labor and wage violators.
A flurry of fines and mounting public pressure on blueberry farmers is only the opening salvo, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said in an interview. Ms. Solis, the daughter of an immigrant farm worker, said she was making enforcement of farm-labor rules a priority. At the same time, Congress is considering whether to rewrite the law that still allows 12-year-olds to work on farms during the summer with almost no limits.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/us/19migrant.html?hp
Friday, June 18, 2010
AFL-CIO Blog: ILO Takes Big Step Toward Domestic Workers' Rights
The International Labor Organization (ILO) this week took a giant step forward in the fight to create workplace justice for the millions of housekeepers, nannies and other domestic workers around the world. At its International Labor Conference, which ends in Geneva tomorrow, the ILO began the process to establish a first-ever international standard (”convention”) to protect the rights of domestic workers.
If the convention is passed at the ILO’s meeting in 2011, it would require governments that ratify it to ensure domestic workers are covered by the fundamental rights and principles of the ILO, which include the freedom to form unions, elimination of forced labor, abolition of child labor and the elimination of discrimination.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/06/17/ilo-takes-big-step-toward-domestic-workers-rights/
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
San Antonio Times: Texas Republicans calls for end of Day Laborer Worker Centers
Texas Republicans on Saturday adopted another get-tough policy on immigration and bilingual education that some say will make it hard for the party to attract votes from the state's ever-growing Hispanic population.
The platform encourages state lawmakers to create a Class A misdemeanor criminal offense “for an illegal alien to intentionally or knowingly be within the State of Texas.”
It opposes amnesty “in any form leading to citizenship for illegal immigrants.”
The platform also emphasizes border security, encouraging “all means” to “immediately prevent illegal aliens.” Texas Republicans also want to limit citizenship by birth to those born to a U.S. citizen, “with no exceptions.” And the platform calls for an end to day-labor work centers.
The party's education platform calls for the end of federal government-sponsored pre-school and opposes mandatory pre-school and kindergarten.
Bilingual education should end after the third year, according to the platform, and noncitizens should not be eligible for state or federal college financial assistance.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/gop_seeks_migrant_crackdown_96232934.html
Monday, June 14, 2010
Labor Justice Committee: Moving forward with Criminal Charges!
As you may remember, in November the Committee asked District Attorney Jaime Esparza to meet with us to discuss the possibility of criminal prosecution against wage theft.
After multiple meetings over the last few months, a Committee member, with the support of the District Attorney, submitted an unprecedented wage theft complaint to the El Paso Police Department under the Texas Penal Code Theft of Services statute...
http://laborjusticecommittee.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/moving-forward-with-criminal-charges/
Friday, June 11, 2010
The Nation: Ms. Solis Goes to Immokalee
“"For years we've been doing wage-theft cases where people don't get paid for a day, a week, or a month," said Asbed. "One person or 100 people--people who walk in our office, or members who call in from Georgia or elsewhere. We call the employer, tell them their rights, what the laws are. And we try to convince them to do the right thing. In the majority of cases they do. But there is a significant minority who don't. In the past we've referred these matters to the states' labor agencies or the federal Department of Labor, with mixed results, to say the least. But Secretary Solis is making it very clear that she wants her investigators to work with us--to be present down here. If we have cases that have hit a wall, she wants us to take them to the investigators. And we're going to do that…."
http://www.thenation.com/blog/ms-solis-goes-immokalee?page=0,0,0,1
Prog. States: Workplace Standars for Domestic Workers
On June 1, the New York Senate put the state in position to be first in the nation to enact a Domestic Workers' Rights law (S2311) by a vote of 33-28. The New York Assembly led the way in June 2009 when it passed its own version of the bill (A1470). This groundbreaking legislation will extend core labor rights, from fair labor standards to paid sick days, to creating a framework for collective bargaining, to domestic workers. This will include those employed to work in a private home to perform housekeeping and/or to care for children, the infirm, or the elderly.
The two versions of the law must…
http://progressivestates.org/node/25207
Ohio State Legislature goes on recess: Wage Theft bill languishes
“Other bills proposed by Senate Democrats to ban texting while driving (Senator Shirley Smith--SB 164), crack down on wage theft (Senator Sue Morano--SB 212) and prohibit hiring discrimination based on credit history (Senator Ray Miller--SB 91) also languish in committee while the Senate goes on a recess that could last until November.”
http://ohiosenatedems.blogspot.com/2010/06/senate-fails-to-pass-critical.html
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Daily Kos: Wage theft is not legal. Period.
One of the best books I ever read on wage theft was written by a colleague named Kim Bobo. In her book "Wage Theft in America," she wrote that "wage theft in America is the crime wave no one talks about."
So, me and a few others working in and around the labor movement have taken the challenge to get out news about wage theft when the opportunity arises. Today I was given that opportunity again.
But wait, hold on ... it is not all doom and gloom! This piece is about a phenomenal victory, valued at $8.5 million, for workers who stood up for their rights at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Neeham Mount Auburn Hospital and New England Baptist Hospital who were allegedly victims of wage theft.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/9/145138/3391
SEIU Blog: Wage theft is not legal. Period.
“While Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the CareGroup, Inc. affiliates deny any wrongdoing or violation of federal or state law, they have nonetheless agreed to settle a class action lawsuit to the tune of $8.5 million…”
http://www.seiu.org/2010/06/wage-theft-is-not-legal-period.php
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
LATINOLA: Film Documentary to Spotlight Latino Reconstruction of New Orleans
In June of 2006, I recorded a radio commentary for National Public Radio’s Latino USA program titled From Chocolate City to an Enchilada Village Called New Orleans. It aired nationally on 200 plus public radio stations, and locally on WWNO in New Orleans. The piece commented on the Latino immigrant labor force engaged in the reconstruction of New Orleans while being subjected to wage theft at the hands of ruthless contractors who exploited their labor and undocumented status.
You can hear the original piece at www.torrestama.com and click on NPR’S LATINO USA Radio Commentaries icon. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities published the essay form in their Cultural Vistas magazine in the fall of 2007.
As part of my performance project called
Monday, June 7, 2010
The Daily News: New law closes in on real wage scofflaws
An honest day's pay for an honest day's work.
Most of the time, it's an equation that serves both employer and employee just fine.
Unfortunately, there are some occasions where a dispute, a mistake or - rarely, an unscrupulous boss - leads to an employee who does not receive all of the pay that he or she has coming.
Thanks to some changes to the law approved during the 2010 legislative session, the state Department of Labor & Industries will soon have enhanced tools to go after the worst offenders, the so-called "willful violators" with a track record of such behavior.
Substitute House Bill 3145, sponsored by state Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, strengthens penalties and enforcement for wage payment complaints, including a doubling of the minimum penalty from $500 to $1,000.
The law takes effect June 10.
http://tdn.com/business/local/article_ae0da0e4-7022-11df-a148-001cc4c002e0.html
InTheseTimes: 'The Help' Gets Its Due: New York Passes Domestic Workers 'Bill of Rights'
New law brings protections most Americans enjoy to historically oppressed, invisible industry
In a city where everyone's out to make a buck, it's easy to run a sweatshop from the privacy of your own home. In fact, you'll find some of New York's most abused workers in the country not on a shop floor, but in a kitchen on the Upper West Side or a kid's bedroom in Chelsea... the hidden crevices of the urban economy that operate outside the law.
But well-off households across the state might soon get shaken up with the passage of a bill decades in the making. The Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, just approved by the New York State Senate, gives nannies, housekeepers and other caregivers basic rights and safeguards against employer abuses.
The provisions, which could impact some 200,000 workers, include overtime pay, vacation days, medical leave, advance notice of termination, and one precious day off each week. The last step is to reconcile the bill with a somewhat weaker version already passed by the Assembly and send it on for Gov. David Paterson's signature.
CrooksandLiars: Bank of America Workers Sue Company Over Compulsory Unpaid Overtime
“This is always a favored tactic of the corporate elite: Keep employees so desperate and afraid, they'll work extra hours for free -- just so you can be chauffeured around Manhattan in a limo:
NEW YORK: Workers for Bank of America Corp, one of the nation's largest employers, have sued the company for allegedly failing to pay overtime and other wages.
The lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas, consolidates 12 lawsuits filed on behalf of employees in California, Florida, Kansas, Texas and Washington.
It seeks nationwide class-action status on behalf of employees at retail branches and call centers over the last three years. The federal Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in April directed that the cases be combined.
According to the 44-page complaint, the largest U.S. bank by assets requires employees to work in excess of eight hours per day or 40 hours per week, yet fails to pay them both for overtime and for all straight time worked…..”
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/bank-america-workers-sue-company-over
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Chicago Daily Herald: Duraco workers on quest to recover money after factory closing
A giant photocopied bounced check hanging on the wall at the Rolling Meadows' office of the Chicago Workers Collaborative serves as a frustrating reminder for Kim Cambra.
Cambra maintained the computer systems for Duraco Products Inc., a Streamwood factory that molded plastic gardening items like watering cans. The 500,000-square-foot factory closed after filing for bankruptcy in February. Cambra enjoyed her job, which she depended on to keep food on the table as a single mother of two. Her wages also helped her with mortgage payments on the family's home in Elmhurst.
Then last September, a $968.45 paycheck bounced, leaving her behind on her mortgage payments and without money for her children's Christmas gifts, she said.
But she says it wasn't the first time it happened. Cambra and…
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=384763
Chicago Daily Herald: Problems getting paid a common workplace problem, report says
A recent University of Illinois at Chicago study reports Chicago area workers lose $7.3 million per week in unpaid wages.
The study, "Unregulated Work in Chicago: The Breakdown of Workplace Protections in the Low-Wage Labor Market," also reports the Illinois Department of Labor receives about 10,000 unpaid wage claims each year.
A change in the Wage Payment and Collection Act, which sits on Gov. Quinn's desk waiting for action, defines low wages as cases where employers withhold $3,000 or less from their workers….
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=384764
Vanderbilt Law Review: Facilitating Wage Theft
How Courts Use Procedural Rules to Undermine Substantive Rights of Low-Wage Workers
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