Restaurant workers’ organization advocates labor rights

The sound of knife blades being sharpened weaved in and out of interview and conversation sound bites, as a discussion was held on Thursday, May 3 at the Pete and Susan Art Gallery on the current conditions of restaurant workers in Los Angeles.

Two long sheets of metal were nailed across the wall of the gallery, and directly below them, a steel cart held pots and pans of all sizes. On the metal sheets were scattered pieces of paper with different quotes. Meant as a revelation of restaurant workers’ thoughts, one of them read, “you can’t ask for a raise, if you ask, if you demand, they’ll show you the door.”

After seeing her partner go through wage theft, discrimination, and indifference for many years as a restaurant worker, Christina Sanchez was motivated to create Break/Pausa, an innovative artistic project meant to be a “dialogical investigation” into the lives of immigrant restaurant workers living in Los Angeles….

http://www.thecorsaironline.com/arts-entertainment/2012/05/08/restaurant-workers-rights-the-topic-of-conversation/

Local Group Calls ‘Wage Theft’ A Growing Problem

A local nonprofit says wage theft is a growing problem among some industries here in the Houston area. Wage theft refers to cases where employees are either underpaid or not paid at all for the work they’ve done. And although it’s hard to ever collect money owed, the group says there are ways the city can crack down on these employers.

Mary Vargas worked as a housekeeper here in the Houston area. That is until her employer decided not to pay her.

“She was working as a domestic worker and she went six months where they did not want to pay her her wages and also overtime, and she worked up to 73 hours a week.”

Vargas’ case is an example of what one group calls “wage theft.”

Jose Sanchez of Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center says it happens more often than you might think.

“It starts with small deductions in paychecks saying, ‘Oh, well in the next check, you’ll recover that, or in the next one, I’ll pay you back this,’ and little by little this starts accumulating. And a person who needs a job and depends on that job to feed their family and their kids, they will take the chance to see if that money comes instead of quitting initially.”…
http://app1.kuhf.org/articles/1336507869-Local-Group-Calls-Wage-Theft-A-Growing-Problem.html

We Are Oregon – Wage Theft Video

Three Palm Beach County commissioners open to wage-theft law

WEST PALM BEACH — Two Palm Beach County commissioners said Thursday night they would support a wage-theft ordinance similar to one Miami-Dade County has approved, and a third said she thinks a compromise could be reached on the issue.

Commissioners Paulette Burdick and Jess R. Santamaria offered their support at the annual assembly of People Engaged in Active Community Efforts, or PEACE, a grassroots organization of local churches.

An estimated crowd of 2,000 people gathered for the meeting at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. PEACE also questioned Santamaria about high unemployment in the Glades.

Palm Beach County commissioners are expected to considered a wage-theft proposal in the next 90 days that could be similar to the Miami-Dade law. It creates a process that workers can use to recover wages from an employer who fails to pay them an agreed-upon amount. Before that, workers in Miami-Dade had to go to court to recover their wages, which often is a costly process.

A Florida International University study found the Miami-Dade program has recovered more than $400,000 in unpaid wages since it began in 2010. An effort to ban counties from imposing such laws failed in the state Legislature this year.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/three-palm-beach-county-commissioners-open-to-wage-2327659.html

Wage Theft Claims on the Rise in Agriculture Industry

Fresno, Calif. –  For years, the agriculture industry in the United States has been dependent on low-wage workers, often undocumented immigrants. However due to the fact that many employers pay their workers in cash it is increasingly common for workers to have their wages withheld or to not receive their proper pay.

“There is no paper trail. There is no record of hours, there is no record of overtime, there is no record of breaks, and therefore no record of payment,” said Antonio Avalos economics professor at California State University Fresno.

Since the economic recession there has been an increase in the number of wage theft reports. Experts say employers are trying to cut corners and reduce costs during tough economic times.

“If they a see an opportunity for not paying somebody and somebody is unable to fight back sometimes they’ll make cuts,” said Avalos.

Andres Ramirez said he tried cashing a check for $160 for his farm work in Kerman, Calif., but when he went to the bank, they told him there were insufficient funds in the account. He said his farm contractor wrote him a bad check.

“First of all I thought about how I had the dignity to think of help by filing a claim with Labor Commission’s Office,” Ramirez said

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/04/28/wage-theft-claims-on-rise-in-agriculture-industry/#ixzz1tUbHOfyq

New PSN Report Surveys State Wage Theft Laws, Highlights New York as National Leader

One year after New York State took a major step to simultaneously plug its budget deficit and improve millions of families’ economic security by enacting the Wage Theft Prevention Act, a new report by Progressive States Network is naming New York state as a leader in wage theft prevention among the 50 states.

The report, Cracking Down on Wage Theft: State Strategies for Protecting Workers and Recovering Revenues, highlights New York’s law which went into effect April 9, 2011 and should help the state recover up to $427 million each year in lost revenue from underpayment of wages – amounting to $1.5 billion per year for workers in New York City alone. The report argues that the revenue so recovered would more than make up for the state’s projected $350 million budget gap, an important signal to other states that have not begun to address this problem.

Read the full report here.