On December 10th, the New York State Department of Labor’s (DOL) Commissioner Patricia Smith, announced in a joint press conference [video here] with the Tompkins County Workers’ Center and Ithaca Mayor Carolyn Peterson, the findings of a targeted DOL investigation of 22 Tompkins County restaurants. In May 2009, investigators from the DOL’s Division of Labor Standards and Unemployment Insurance found that five of the restaurants – 23 percent – were in full compliance with labor laws. However, the other 17 restaurants – 77 percent of those visited – were found to have violated New York State Labor Laws. Specifically, the DOL found that $87,925 is owed to 93 employees at 6 restaurants for violations such as failure to pay minimum wage and illegal deductions from workers’ paychecks. Commissioner Smith said:
I’m encouraged by the fact that almost one-quarter of the restaurants we checked were in full compliance with labor laws. To them I say thank you – thank you for treating your workers fairly and thank you for playing by the rules. Ultimately, a level playing field helps all New Yorkers – workers and
Continue reading Sweep of Ithaca Restaurants Finds Labor Law Violations at Most
Support Collective Bargaining Rights for ALL workers
Every year, thousands of workers come to the United States via the H-2B guestworker visa program. Under this program, a workers’ visa is tied to his or her employer, giving their bosses a great deal of control over their lives. All too often, workers in the US on the H-2B visa find themselves in unfair, unsafe, or even illegal work situations, but because their immigration status is tied to their employer, it is very difficult to organize for better working conditions. You may remember the story of Hilario Jimenez, a guestworker who escaped company housing to expose his employers for using taxpayer money to exploit migrant workers while excluding local workers from jobs.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. On March 17, 2011, the National Guestworker Alliance won a major victory and a vindication of five years of organizing, advocacy, and litigation as the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed new regulations of the H-2B non-agricultural visa program. The proposed regulations would ensure that workers in the U.S. through this program are not trapped in debt to recruiters and do not face retaliation for organizing to become members of workers’ centers or unions. The new regulations would
Continue reading Support Collective Bargaining Rights for ALL workers