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,
Yesterday, hundreds of community, faith, student leaders came to Washington to tell their elected officials why they support the Employee Free Choice Act. Jobs with Justice activists from Pennsylvania, Missouri, Maine and Indiana joined others in a jam-packed 36 hours of training and lobbying.
Participants were welcomed Wednesday night by outgoing AFL-CIO president John Sweeney. On Thursday morning, Senator Harkin addressed the crowd with heart-felt remarks about his family’s life-long commitment to unions and workers’ issues. Harkin, who was just named Chairman of the House Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, brought a bittersweet message to the activists. “We will win strong labor law reform,” Harkin said, “but it may not happen this year.” Senator Harkin explained that health care would likely dominate the legislative calendar for the remainder of the year, but assured folks that the Employee Free Choice Act would immediately follow.
With the appointment of Harkin to lead the HELP Committee and President Obama’s Labor Day address reconfirming his support for the Bill, activists were energized to go out and meet with their Senators and Congressional Representatives. You can see
Jobs with Justice was one of 521 organizations that signed an open letter to Obama criticizing the Presidents inactivity on immigration reform. The letter demands the “immediate termination” of the 287(g) program which allows local law enforcement agencies to essentially act as proxies for federal agents who investigate, apprehend, transport, and detain people who are suspected of being undocumented.
The national debate on health care continues to be front-and-center, and JwJ coalitions remain engaged on the ground.
St. Joseph Valley Project/JwJ in South Bend, Indiana went out to show their support for health reform when the so-called “Patients First National Bus Tour” came to town.
ONE YEAR AGO Congress & the Federal Reserve bailed-out Wall Street and the insurers, claiming they were “too big to fail.” ONE YEAR LATER…
Workers are losing their jobs, homes, healthcare, & retirement security
The Bailed-Out Banks continue to award executive bonuses while refusing to finance jobs and evicting renters and homeowners through foreclosures
Corporations still “own” Congress & are continuing with “business as usual” by blocking measures like health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act
The G-20, an international group of powerful bankers and governments, is meeting in Pittsburgh (9/24) to push for more of the same failed policies that created the economic crisis.
JOIN US FOR A WEEK OF ACTION TO DEMAND JOBS, HOMES, HEALTH CARE, & A NEW ECONOMY THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE!
After nine months of organizing a grassroots campaign to recover their salaries and educate the immigrant community about their rights as workers, a group of Latino immigrant workers have recovered their salaries that had been unjustly denied them by a cleaning company that subcontracted with Boston area restaurant chain Legal Sea Food.
More than 30 immigrant workers employed by different subcontracting companies to clean in the Cheesecake Factory and Legal Sea Food restaurants were paid with bad checks or not paid at all for regular and overtime hours worked. “The workers are eager to continue the campaign to recover all of their wages, as only one company has agreed to pay so far and there are still workers who have had their rights violated,” stated Yessenia Alfaro, Organizing Director of the Chelsea Collaborative and board member of the Massachusetts Jobs with Justice.
“The violation of labor rights is a systemic problem affecting all workers in this country and immigrant workers are even more vulnerable to this exploitation,” said Patricia Montes, Centro Presente’s Executive Director. “The Department of Labor must invest resources into the enforcement
A sampling of what Jobs with Justice coalitions are working on this week.
JwJ coalitions across the country continued to engage in the health care debate. Central Indiana Jobs with Justice is forming a local grassroots group of activists to respond to the attacks on health insurance reform. Stay tuned next week for a more detailed account of the work they are doing.
Yet another example of why working people need the Employee Free Choice Act. In 2006, warehouse workers in Lancaster, CA decided they wanted to form a union. Despite the company’s attacks, a majority the of the workers voted to join ILWU Local 26 in March 2008. But more than a year later, the workers have not been able to negotiate a first contract.
Today, as these workers continue fighting for a contract, Jobs with Justice is releasing a report to tell their story. Rite Aid, Oliver J. Bell & Associates, and the Case for the Employee Free Choice Actdocuments how management employed union-busters and violated labor laws. Last year, the National Labor Relations Board was prepared to charge Rite Aid with 49 unfair labor practice charges before the cases were settled out of court.
Unfortunately, the problems faced by workers when they formed a union at Rite Aid are all-too-common. Profitable and unaccountable anti-union firms, like Oliver Bell and Associates, show companies how to manipulate and flout labor laws with little or no consequences.
The Employee Free Choice Act could make a huge difference in cases like
JwJ Executive Director Sarita Gupta gave an interview to the Real News Network last week about the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act and why labor and community allies are continuing to mobilize for labor law reform.
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:
Security Guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, after 
September 24-October 1, 2009 
After nine months of organizing a grassroots campaign to recover their salaries and educate the immigrant community about their rights as workers, a group of Latino immigrant workers have recovered their salaries that had been unjustly denied them by a cleaning company that subcontracted with Boston area restaurant chain Legal Sea Food.
Yet another example of why working people need the Employee Free Choice Act. In 2006, warehouse workers in Lancaster, CA decided they wanted to form a union. Despite the company’s attacks, a majority the of the workers voted to join ILWU Local 26 in March 2008. But more than a year later, the 