Kansas.com: Labor leaders told "wage theft" a growing problem in Wichita area

The poor economy has prompted some employers to cut back on expenses by cheating workers out of pay, a group of labor leaders gathered Saturday in Wichita was told.

Representatives of the state and federal Departments of Labor were on hand when Sunflower Community Action held a meeting on what it called a growing problem with "wage theft."

The meeting drew more than 50 people, including a half-dozen state legislators, to Horace Mann Elementary School at 1243 N. Market.

A group of Sunflower Community Action members and other activists said wage law violations were more common that most people think.

Javier Garcia said he's seen many cases in which workers have been denied wages they had coming to them.

"The problem we're talking about — wage theft and labor abuse — happens every day, right here in Wichita," he said.

Sulma Arias said the poor economy has made the problem worse.

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/10/23/1555418/labor-leaders-told-wage-theft.html#ixzz13OKKSrk7

KTKA49:Labor officials to hold Kansas wage theft hearing

Wichita — Federal and state labor officials will be in Wichita on Saturday for a hearing on the problem of wage theft.

The hearing is one of five being held around the country.

The U.S. Labor Department is looking into violations of minimum wage and overtime laws. It also wants to hear from workers forced to work off the clock, and from those misclassified workers as independent contractors.

Saturday's hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Wichita's Horace Mann Elementary School.

The other hearings Other hearings are being held in Michigan, Rhode Island Iowa and Massachusetts.

http://www.ktka.com/news/2010/oct/22/labor-officials-hold-kansas-wage-theft-hearing/

 

WPTV: Palm Beach County considers new 'wage theft' rules aimed at helping shortchanged workers

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - For Palm Beach County's most vulnerable workers, a day's work doesn't always result in a day's pay.

Whether it is day laborers who receive less than promised after a day at a construction site or hotel cleanup-crews shortchanged after handling an extra shift, low-income local workers need more protection, according to a collection of local congregations pushing for a new "wage theft" law.

On Tuesday, People Engaged in Active Community Efforts, known as PEACE, convinced the Palm Beach County Commission to move forward with a wage-theft ordinance that would give workers new recourse when they don't receive the money they earned from jobs large and small.

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_c_palm_beach_county/west_palm_beach/palm-beach-county-considers-new-%27wage-theft%27-rules-aimed-at-helping-shortchanged-workers

Workplace Blog: Why Are Millions of Workers Excluded From Minimum Wages?

The United States is a country where hard work is supposed to be rewarded. If you agree with that, would you be shocked to learn that there are more than 1.6 million homecare workers who are being denied federal minimum wage and overtime protections under current labor laws? And it is almost 2011!

Chew on this for a minute: More than 1 million hardworking Americans are legally denied basic labor rights most of us take for granted at this point. How did that happen, what can we do to change that?

It all goes back to The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which was enacted in 1938 to ensure a minimum standard of living for workers through the provision of minimum wage, overtime pay, and other protections – yet, domestic workers were excluded.

In 1974 the FLSA was amended to include domestic workers, such as housekeepers, full-time nannies, chauffeurs, and cleaners. However, people who were described as “companions to the elderly or infirm” were for some reason excluded from the law. They were compared to babysitters…

http://www.todaysworkplace.org/2010/09/30/why-are-millions-of-workers-excluded-from-minimum-wages/

 

SalemNews: Border Activists Target Dollar Store Chain

An El Paso group is now reaching out to potential allies in other cities as it expands the campaign against Family Dollar’s labor policies.

(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) - For more than an hour, business slowed to a trickle at the Family Dollar store in downtown El Paso. Chanting slogans and hoisting signs, a few dozen picketers marched in disciplined, circular formation on the sidewalk in front of the popular discount store on Stanton Street.

Organized by El Paso’s new Retail Workers Rights Committee (RWRC), the protesters demanded that Family Dollar respect workers rights, stop mistreating managers in order to avoid paying overtime and limit managers’ schedules to 52 hours per week. Staging its demonstration during peak Saturday business hours, the RWRC passed out leaflets that read: “Family Dollar Is Not Family Friendly.”

“What makes me do this protest is people don’t know their rights,” said Abel Lopez, former El Paso Family Dollar manager an…

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/october182010/target-protest-kp.php

 

 

CJonline: Wage theft hearing planned

WICHITA — Officials from the U.S. Department of Labor will be in Wichita on Saturday for a hearing on the issue of wage theft.

Kansas is one of five states where the agency is holding field hearings on the issue.

Saturday's hearing starts at 1 p.m. at Horace Mann Magnet School.

The event is sponsored by Sunflower Community Action.

Kansas Labor Secretary Jim Garner is expected to take part, along with the U.S. Labor Department's Midwest regional administrator, Karen Chaikan.

http://cjonline.com/news/state/2010-10-18/wage_theft_hearing_planned

 

DesMoinesRegister: Iowa wage theft laws lag U.S. push, critics say

The federal government and many states, including Iowa, have increased enforcement of wage theft in recent years.

But critics say Iowa's laws have fallen behind a national push to punish employers who don't pay employees for the hours they work.

Employers can be fined $500 for each violation, which can include not paying full wages and overtime, according to Iowa code. Some states, as a result of laws enacted this year, award three times that amount against companies that deny workers overtime wages.

"We have really, really weak penalties," said state Sen. Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City who has proposed legislation to strengthen Iowa's wage laws.

Since 2009, five states have increased funding, and stiffened penalties for employers who don't pay minimum wage or overtime. The new laws also…

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101018/NEWS05/10180325/-1/ANKENY/Iowa-wage-theft-laws-lag-U.S.-push-critics-say

 

 

Citizen Times: Iowa workers feel pay theft pinch

Rent was due, and the construction workers were out of options.

So the six men who live in Des Moines pooled money for gasoline, piled into a car and drove west. When they arrived at their boss' suburban home, they demanded thousands of dollars in unpaid wages owed them.

Their demands, made in August, were initially unsuccessful.

"It was only fair," said Pedro, 32, of Mexico, through an interpreter. "I mean, we had done the work."

 

The Euro Masonry workers, who quit their jobs this month, provided only their first names to The Des Moines Register because they are working in the United States illegally and fear deportation.

In the past year, the federal government has investigated an increasing number of wage theft cases in an effort to prevent billions in lost worker pay and…

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/D2/20101017/NEWS05/10170352/Iowa-workers-feel-pay-theft-pinch

 

 

NYT: Car Wash to Pay Workers $1.7 Million in Owed Wages

A car wash in Upper Manhattan agreed to pay its employees more than $1.7 million for five years worth of underpaid wages, under a settlement announced Tuesday by the state Labor Department.

The car wash, Broadway Bridge Wash & Lube at Broadway and 220th Street, routinely cheated its workers, who usually worked 72 hours a week, out of overtime wages and tips from 2003 to 2008, the Labor Department said. Some earned as little as $3.75 an hour, which was $3 below minimum wage at the time, the department said.

Broadway Bridge also agreed to pay $215,000 in penalties to the Labor Department. The settlement stemmed from a statewide investigation of car washes that the Labor Department undertook in 2008. It found that in New York City, as many as 78 percent of car washes violated minimum-wage and overtime laws. A call to the operators of Broadway Bridge — David Winter, Ehud Cafri and Ori Apple — was not immediately returned.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/car-wash-to-pay-workers-1-7-million-in-owed-wages/?emc=eta1

 

Miami New Times: Sixteen Miami-Dade Businesses You Might Not Want to Work For

What do a Christian preschool, a pizzeria, a sod company, and the Tourist Office of Spain have in common?

They've all been caught shortchanging their staff, according to documents obtained by the New Times. But thanks to the Miami-Dade's new Wage Theft Program, those and 12 other companies have voluntarily paid out over $25,000 to current and former employees in the past five months.

Follow the jump to see a full list, including the pay-outs:….

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/10/sixteen_miami-dade_businesses.php

 

ProgressIllinois: Hare Introduces New Bill To Stop Wage Theft

Congressman Phil Hare, of the 17th District, recently introduced a bill that would create a new grant program within the Department of Labor. His office says the program will provide resources and assistance to workers centers, legal aid clinics, and other community-based organizations working to stop wage theft, a pervasive issue that hurts employees across the country. In her 2008 book about the topic, Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice in Chicago, found that some 2 million workers are paid less than the minimum wage, 3 million are wrongly classified as independent contractors instead of employees, and millions more are illegally denied overtime pay.

Hare has followed this issue closely; he co-sponsored legislation in July 2009 meant to provide additional enforcement power for investigators during wage theft inquiries. The issue has gained traction over the last two years in other venues as well. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis launched a campaign last year to inform workers who've been bilked of their pay about the resources offered by the federal agency. At the state level, Gov. Quinn signed a bill in July that imposes penalities on employers who shortchange or fail to pay their employees.

http://progressillinois.com/quick-hits/content/2010/10/06/hare-introduces-new-bill-staunch-wage-theft

 

LehighValleyLive: Sodexo workers at Lehigh Valley area hospitals authorize strike

Contracted food service workers at the three hospitals are protesting the company's "pattern of interfering with, restraining and coercing workers who are fighting to form a union," according to a news release from 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union.

 “We voted to strike based on ongoing wage theft issues, high health care premiums and disrespectful treatment. We also face ongoing intimidation by management,” Louis Olsen, a food service worker at Good Shepherd Hospital, says in a news release. “We are taking a stand for better jobs, conditions and benefits for Lehigh Valley Sodexo workers.”

Sodexo workers earn as little as $8.25 an hour, and family health care coverage is out of reach for many. Last fall, Sodexo employees at several hospitals and schools in the region began petitioning for better pay and benefits. Employees allege Sodexo management began intimidating workers by "spying (on) workers engaged in union activity and threatening workers for wearing union t-shirts."

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2010/10/sodexo_workers_at_lehigh_valle.html

 

EGMN: Immigrants targeted for theft

Miguel Davila came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant three years ago from the small town of Acatzingo, Mexico, after hearing that hard work was greatly rewarded in this country.  However, this past summer Davila became a victim of wage theft.

Davila, 28, who requested for his real name to be changed, was looking for work in the Longpoint area when someone hired him to re-roof a building and add air conditioners. After Davila finished, the employer said that he didn’t like the roof and he was not going to pay him.

“The employer even accused us of stealing some of the air conditioners, but they each weighed about 5 tons. In order to lift any of them, I would’ve needed a crane,” said Davila.

The employer threatened to call the police if Davila didn’t leave the premises.

“I knew that my word wasn’t going to measure up to his,” said Davila, who did not recieve any payment for a week’s worth of work at the re-roofing job. “So I just left.”…

http://uhelgato.com/2010/10/immigrants-targeted-for-theft/

 

 

Asian Journal: AAPIs encouraged to report worker abuse

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) residents of Las Vegas are encouraged to voice their concerns about the workplace by calling the federal government.

 

"If you know of instances of malfeasance, stories of employees being shortchanged, or of harassment, criminalization, and wage theft I want to know about it," US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told a recent forum in Las Vegas.

 

"My department can help you. What we are doing is to empower workers to understand what their rights are so they will be able to start taking action," she also said.

 

Solis said she wants to "open the doors of the Department of Labor (DOL) to low-skilled immigrant workers" to make sure that their concerns are met.

 

"It is particularly important to immigrant community, to those who…

http://www.asianjournal.com/dateline-usa/15-dateline-usa/7167-aapis-encouraged-to-report-worker-abuse.html

 

Union Review: Major Legislation to Combat Wage Theft Introduced Today

Today Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL) introduced the Wage Theft Prevention and Community Partnership Act, which would authorize the U.S. Department of Labor to establish a competitive grant program to prevent wage theft. The bill would expand the efforts of enforcement agencies and community organizations to educate workers about their rights and the remedies available to them.

Wage theft is the pervasive and illegal practice of not paying workers for all of their work. It includes violations of minimum wage laws; not paying time and a half overtime pay; forcing workers to work off the clock; workers not receiving their final paychecks; misclassifying employees as independent contractors to avoid paying minimum wage and overtime (as well as employers' share of FICA tax); and not paying workers at all.

A landmark study of low-wage workers conducted by UCLA, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the National Employment Law Project found that 15 percent of workers’ wages are stolen on average each week. The Wage Theft Prevention and Community Partnership Grant Program would provide vitally needed resources to worker centers, legal clinics, and other local groups to educate and assist workers victimized by wage theft.

http://unionreview.com/major-legislation-combat-wage-theft-introduced-today

 

LA Wave: South L.A. center builds hope in the midst of a black job crisis

At a time when educational and employment opportunities elude far too many young African-American men, Terence Mason Jr. seems to have it all figured out.

The 21-year-old Toledo, Ohio native is two years away from completing his apprenticeship as a trade certified journeyman sheet metal worker. Within the next few years he intends to become an inspector, then take more schooling to become an engineer.

On Saturday, Mason lent his support to a new advocacy movement supporting local project hire policies that will help create career-track construction jobs for the city’s most underutilized and disadvantaged workers.

….

“There’s also a lot of underemployment in our community, where people don’t have adequate benefits and protections in their jobs. In our research we found that 70 percent of African-Americans are facing some sort of wage theft — meaning employers are not paying overtime and break time, or paying cash under the table. These are all violations of labor law.”…

http://www.wavenewspapers.com/news/local/west-edition/Building-hope-in-the-midst-of-a-Black-job-crisis-104046224.html

 

 

ClassActionCentral: Rise in Wage Theft Complaints Prompts Stricter Enforcement of Fair Labor Regulations

The U.S. Government and Accountability Office (GAO) is stepping up efforts to increase regulation on wage theft after an investigation showed inadequate responses to complaints from disgruntled employees. 

On June 23, 2009, the GAO issued a report containing guidelines on how the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) can ramp up enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) provisions, which  ensures  millions of workers are paid the federal minimum wage and overtime. In response to the GAO report, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis announced plans to hire 250 wage-and-hour field investigators, raising the division’s staff amount by more than one-third.

Recently, reports of  lawsuits against restaurant owners have appeared in the news. The suits accuse employers of  violating state and federal labor laws by withholding proper tip wages from its  low-level employees. Some lawsuits also claim that eateries do not follow state laws requiring  employees receive an additional hour of pay if they work for 10 or more hours in a day. The class action complaints, seek unpaid wages and tips, interest, and…

http://www.classactioncentral.com/2010/09/rise-in-wage-theft-complaints-prompts-stricter-enforcement-of-fair-labor-regulations/

 

 

ConstructionCitizen: Business Owner Sent To Prison For Dishonest Employment Practices

According to an article in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (Wasilla, Alaska), a man who hired illegal workers and paid them in cash for at least three years has now been sentenced to one year in prison followed by three years probation, and has been told to pay $336,753 following an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service.

Esteban Lane Stubbs hired undocumented immigrants for his drywall business in the Anchorage Alaska area, paying them in cash to avoid having to pay them fair wages and benefits.  While Alaska does not yet have any laws which address wage theft and employee misclassification, Stubbs was convicted of “structuring a financial transaction” because of his attempt to hide the way he paid his employees.  Knowing that a bank is required to report cash withdrawals over $10,000 to the IRS, Stubbs routinely withdrew smaller amounts on consecutive days from different branches of First National Bank Alaska.  …

http://www.constructioncitizen.com/blog/stubbs-enterprises-lobo-drywall-alaska-business-owner-sent-prison-wage-theft/1009272

 

 

LATimes: Schwarzenegger vetoes bills protecting hourly workers

Reporting from Sacramento —

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday vetoed a pair of bills aimed at curbing theft by employers of wages paid to hourly workers.

The most controversial of the two measures, backed by the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, would have created a new misdemeanor crime for employers that willfully fail to pay all wages within 90 days after a worker leaves.

A second bill would have increased the maximum amount of damages that a worker could be awarded in a wage-related legal dispute or state enforcement action.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wage-theft-20100928,0,6980019.story

 

Providence Jornal: R.I. workers tell Labor Department representative about unpaid wages

CENTRAL FALLS –– Oswaldo Urizar worked for weeks, but never got paid. Neither did his son.

At a public meeting Saturday with U.S. Department of Labor representatives, Urizar said his employer promised him “six hundred dollars if you work for eight hours a day,” and “one-hundred dollars [more] if I worked Saturday. He offered my son $375.”

Two weeks later, “he gave me five hundred dollars. He didn’t give me the seven hundred he offered me,” Urizar said through an interpreter. By week three, the employer was still making empty promises. Then he stopped answering his phone. “Days went by, he never paid me, so I didn’t go back,” Urizar said.

Urizar said to the Labor Department representatives, “We want to ask you to stop this. We represent millions of families going through the same thing.”

The meeting at the St. George’s Church was sponsored by Fuerza Laboral [Power of Workers], an immigrant and workers’ organization whose campaigns include …

http://www.projo.com/news/content/WORKERS_PROTEST_09-26-10_HHK2N4M_v9.2091898.html

 

 

UUSC: UUSC Partner Wins Historic Edict Condemning Wage Theft

AYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A UUSC partner organization based in northwest Arkansas has achieved a significant milestone with the proclamation by Fayetteville Mayor Lionel Jordan condemning wage theft as an illegal practice that causes irreparable harm to low-income workers and ethical businesses.

"Wage theft, the practice of underpaying or refusing to pay for the labor of employees, denies workers and their families economic prosperity and financial security," Mayor Jordan said in the proclamation. "Workers have lost homes and vehicles due to employers not paying wages and, in some extreme cases, wage theft has led to homelessness."

The proclamation was issued in conjunction with a recent forum on the issue of wage theft organized by the Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center (NWAWJC), a UUSC partner based in Springdale, Ark. Although the proclamation is nonbinding, Fayetteville is the first city in the United States to issue a public pronouncement and promise strong action to…

http://www.uusc.org/content/uusc_partner_wins_historic_edict_condemning_wage_theft

 

 

NY Daily News: Bus company owner accused of stiffing employees lays low in million-dollar home, mum on allegations

The owner of a bus company accused of paying matrons less than minimum wage refused to answer any questions Thursday.

Charles Curcio - whose Outstanding Transport may pay workers as little as $3.90 an hour for ferrying disabled adults to programs around the city - was mum about his matrons' meager paychecks.

Workers' weekly pay assumes they spend only four or five hours a day picking riders up in the morning, taking them to programs then picking them up in the afternoon again.

The matrons, who produced pay stubs showing weekly pay around $200, say the task can take double that time.

The Labor Department is investigating the allegations of the matrons, who are represented by Local 854.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/09/23/2010-09-23_bus_company_owner_accused_of_stiffing_employees_lays_low_in_milliondollar_home_m.html#ixzz12MHlcseX

 

AK Catholic: Worker Justice Center successful at going after 'wage theft'

SPRINGDALE -- The Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center unexpectedly lost its executive director because of illness last fall, but that hasn't dimmed the passion its staff members have for protecting the low-wage worker -- nor, they contend, did the need for their assistance wane.

Founded in 2002, the organization helps low-income workers with ensuring their legal rights are protected in work-place issues, including workers' compensation, discrimination and what they describe as "wage theft."

Jose Luis Aguayo-Herrara, interim executive director, said wage theft applies to situations when employers refuse to pay their workers or keep them from collecting certain earned benefits. Such situations often involve undocumented workers (and about 80 percent of workers with such claims are Latino) but, Aguayo-Herrara said, it should not be considered an immigration issue. The NWAWJC also has assisted with wage theft cases for African Americans, Caucasians and Marshalese, he said.

In the case of undocumented workers, unscrupulous employers know their victims are hesitant to file complaints for fear they'll be deported, Aguayo-Herrara said. He contended law enforcement officials, whether it's police presented with theft of services complaints or prosecutors, often don't act….

http://www.arkansas-catholic.org/article.php?id=2301&sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4cb37af49b6be5a1,0

 

Businesswire: Pacific Tomato Growers, Coalition of Immokalee Workers Sign Landmark Agreement for Social Responsibility in Florida Tomato Fields

The agreement represents a significant step forward in CIW's decade-long campaign for labor reforms in Florida's tomato industry. Not only is it the first formal agreement between CIW and a major tomato grower, but the new accord establishes several practical systems designed to implement cooperatively the key principles of the Code of Conduct at the heart of the Campaign for Fair Food. Those principles include a joint -- and, when need be, external -- complaint resolution system, a participatory health and safety program, and a worker-to-worker education process aimed at insuring that farmworkers themselves are active participants in the social responsibility efforts.

The agreement also provides for third-party auditing of both the systems needed to implement the Code and payment of the "penny-per-pound," the price premium designed to raise farmworker wages that is part of CIW's agreements with nine major retail food companies, including sector leaders McDonald's, Whole Foods, and Compass Group.

“Pacific Tomato Growers (PTG) believes that….

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101013006223/en/Pacific-Tomato-Growers-Coalition-Immokalee-Workers-Sign

 

 

Crains: The new face of labor

Late last month, as Gov. David Paterson signed the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights into law at a Harlem community center, Barbara Young, a nanny for 17 years, could barely contain her glee.

“After so many years and so many people depending on us, we are now recognized as part of the work force,” the 62-year-old Barbados native recalls thinking.

The signing marked the climax of a six-year campaign by Domestic Workers United to gain long-denied rights for nannies and housekeepers. But the 200,000 workers who stand to gain from the new law are not the only group whose prospects look brighter. Organizations that represent workers ranging from busboys to freelance writers are increasing their clout, winning rights for low-wage, immigrant and contingent workers who had for years fallen outside the scope of mainstream labor and its collective bargaining agreements.

The groups, often referred to as worker centers, typically represent workers in industries not covered under existing labor laws…

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100919/FREE/309199986

 

 

LA Examiner: Los Angeles area workers need to know their employment rights

When you’re looking for a job in Los Angeles, it’s easy to be exploited or taken advantage of if you don’t know your rights. 

In fact, a recent article in the Los Angeles Times “Harsher penalties suggested for employers who shortchange workers in California” suggests that there are thousands of workers in the state of California that are working for less than the state mandated $8.00 per hour. The problem is that many of them feel stuck because employers know that in this economy there are others willing to take their place. 

Employer actions amount to theft

According to the Los Angeles Times article, “A UCLA study, released this year as part of a national project, found that wage theft costs Los Angeles County workers $26 million a week. The survey found that workers who experienced some type of wage theft lost an average of about $40 from typical weekly earnings of $318.”

This same survey showed that approximately three-fourths of 160,000 people who worked over 40 hours a week received no overtime pay. Plus nearly 30% of the county's low-earning workers were paid less than the minimum wage. 

However, besides taking from their employees by illegally underpaying workers, these employers are robbing the state as well by not paying their full share of payroll taxes which fund unemployment insurance and disability programs. 

California is doing what it can to stop this illegal behavior, but it doesn’t have enough inspectors. In fact, last year the state cited 216 employers for violating minimum wage and overtime pay laws. That’s a decline of about 50 from the previous year, likey due to an insufficient number of…

http://www.examiner.com/job-search-in-los-angeles/los-angeles-area-workers-need-to-know-their-employment-rights

 

 

Workers.org: Mott's workers defend jobs, union as strike ends

The Mott’s applesauce and apple juice workers held their picket line for 114 days. Dr Pepper Snapple bosses blinked on Sept. 13. That Monday, in the midst of the local apple harvest, DPS offered Local 220 of the Department Store union, which is a division of the Food and Commercial Workers union (RWDSU-UFCW), very different contract terms than the workers had rejected on May 23. Gone were demands for $1.50 an hour pay cut, with additional 50-cent cuts the next two years, for a total of $2.50 an hour. Gone were the demands for a pension freeze and a big jump in employee costs of medical care. Gone were DPS’s dreams of being able to run the plant with low-paid scab labor, jettison the skilled workers and kill the union. Instead DPS offered a wage freeze, with a $1,000 signing bonus, reduced pension contribution and a 401(k) plan for new hires, and 20 percent employee costs for medical care. Local 220 RWDSU-UFCW voted 185 to 62 to ratify the three-year contact on Sept. 13.

Though it wasn’t a clear-cut victory, the workers were able to stop a highly profitable company’s draconian attack. A very dangerous precedent would have been set for all workers in this recession if the strike had failed. But the workers are returning to work with …

http://www.workers.org/2010/us/picket_line_0923/

 

 

MiamiNewTimes: DeVito South Beach tip scandal

On a cool weeknight in February, DeVito restaurant on South Beach is humming. Beneath giant chandeliers of glowing glass, waitress Angela Suarez skips from the kitchen counter to a dozen different white-marble tables, carrying heaps of porcini gnocchi and pecorino cheese pasta.

Though the perky server is smiling brightly, inside she's boiling with rage. She recalls working about 60 hours the prior week, but the paycheck she picked up earlier showed only 38. So after midnight, when business has died down, she sneaks upstairs to a computer near the manager's office and logs in. Sure enough, the record confirms she's been stiffed, she claims. And part of her tips have been siphoned to a sommelier.

"They basically mistreat everybody around there," she says. "They're bad people."

Last month, Suarez, who is using a pseudonym because she fears retribution from a new employer, sued DeVito for cheating her out of tips and wages. In just the past …

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/content/printVersion/2453664/

 

SFGate: Survey finds 'wage theft' at Chinatown eateries

Chinatown restaurants routinely pay workers less than the minimum wage, according to a study by local activists that brings the national trend of so-called wage theft home to San Francisco.

The 30-page report being released today by the Chinese Progressive Association culminates a two-year survey of about 400 workers - more than half of whom said they were being paid less than the San Francisco minimum wage, currently $9.79 per hour.

"We believe this is the largest study of its kind in the country," said Meredith Minkler, a UC Berkeley public health expert who helped train workers from Chinatown to survey their peers to penetrate the language barrier. …

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/17/BU5E1FF0Q5.DTL#ixzz12M8rXqYu

 

ShortOrderBlog:China Grill, Prime One Twelve Latest to Be Sued by Ex-Employees for Tip Skimming

When we head to most South Beach restaurants, we customers expect to get fleeced: $200 steaks, $50 sushi rolls, $15 mineral water. But the employees?

According to two lawsuits filed earlier this summer, fancy South Beach restaurants China Grill and Prime One Twelve are stiffing their own servers out of thousands in wages and tips.

The lawsuits are just the tip of the iceberg, however, when it comes to Miami restaurants accused of stealing from their servers, as New Times will explain in an investigative article out later today.

Lawyers for the restaurants could not be reached for comment, but both establishments have denied the accusations in court.

Two former waiters are suing China Grill for more than $15,000 of damages each, according to court documents filed in U.S. federal court in June. The lawsuit alleges the Washington Ave. restaurant underpaid its waiters, forced them to share tips with employees that shouldn't have received them, and skimmed those tips with various fees….

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/shortorder/2010/09/china_grill_prime_112_latest_t.php

 

NCCC: Farmworker Advocacy Network to launch new campaign

On Thanksgiving 1960, Edward R. Murrow’s “Harvest of Shame” report on the state of America’s migrant workers shocked a nation.  Murrow exposed the dangerous conditions and lack of dignity that characterized farm work.  Describing a scene of workers being recruited to work the fields, Murrow narrates: “This is the way the humans who harvest the food for the best-fed people in the world get hired. One farmer looked at this and said, ‘We used to own our slaves; now we just rent them.’”

…

The very same workers who put food on our tables have paid for it with sweat, blood, and sometimes their lives.  Farmworkers do some of the most dangerous work in the country, but they don’t have the same protections as workers in other industries.  Their labor is the backbone of North Carolina’s largest industry, and every day we eat fruits and vegetables that have been handpicked.  Yet most farmworkers don’t get overtime, workers’ compensation or other benefits, and nearly half cannot afford enough food for their own families.   Many are not even entitled to the minimum wage….

http://www.nccouncilofchurches.org/2010/09/farmworker-advocacy-network-to-launch-new-campaign/

 

AKTimes: Fayetteville mayor decries wage theft

Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan has made the city the first to express opposition to wage theft, according to a release from the Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center.

The proclamation against the practice is non-binding, but Jordan is quoted as saying he would establish a Mayor’s Task Force on Wage Theft, assign a police officer to investigate wage crimes and create a hotline to report wage theft.

Wage theft is intentional underpayment or nonpayment for labor. It is often employed against people in a position not to fight back — particularly immigrant workers without papers. In addition to hurting workers and families, it disadvantages competitors and steals government revenue.

NEWS RELEASE

The mayor of Fayetteville, Arkansas has issued an historic proclamation condemning wage theft, making theirs the first city-wide public pronouncement in the nation against the illegal practice that annually takes billions of dollars out of the pockets of millions of workers across the country, particularly in the low-wage economy.

Lioneld Jordan, mayor of Fayetteville, unveiled the proclamation on Thursday, September 9, at a public forum on wage theft organized by the Northwest Arkansas Workers’ Justice Center, an affiliate of the national network Interfaith Worker …

http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2010/09/14/fayetteville-mayor-decries-wage-theft