by dcjwjeditor | Mar 7, 2013 | Actions & Events, Immigrant Rights, Projects, Trabajadores Unidos de DC / United Workers of DC, Wage Theft
Chants of “la lucha – sí, la lucha – sí” (the struggle -yes, the struggle – yes) echoed off the DC Council chamber walls as more than 50 workers and community activists packed the Wilson Building on Monday, March 4th to demand more protections for workers against wage theft. DC Jobs with Justice, United Workers of DC, and the DC Wage Theft Coalition accompanied workers as they presented Councilmember Marion Barry with a giant paper bill for outstanding unpaid wages. The bill totaled more than $260,000, yet only represented the wage theft claims of about 40 workers, a small number of the many more victimized by wage theft in Washington, DC. Pledging to seek justice for the workers, Councilmember Barry quoted Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will.” With that, the group filed into the performance oversight hearing for the Department of Employee Services. Witness after witness testified about the inability of the Office of Wage-Hour to protect workers who struggle to recover their rightfully owed wages. United Workers of DC President Carlos Castillo explained, “Without significant changes, going to the Office of Wage-Hour to file claims often becomes a waste of time, of money, and of opportunity to find a good option for daily work for a day laborer.” Moved by this and the many other testimonies from workers and advocates, Councilmember Barry vowed to investigate the workers’ claims, to explore new resources, systems, and funding for the Office of Wage-Hour, and to consider proposing legislation to protect workers against wage theft. Coming off a tremendous victory at popular Georgetown restaurants,...
by dcjwjeditor | Feb 13, 2013 | Actions & Events, Trabajadores Unidos de DC / United Workers of DC, Wage Theft
On Wednesday, February 6, three former workers of two popular restaurants in Georgetown won a combined $4,237 in unpaid wages. After many months of struggling for their pay, the workers returned to the restaurant with more than 50 allies from the community, who stood outside the restaurants to ensure that the three workers were paid. Sure enough, just minutes later, the workers emerged with their newly won wages. Fresh off its victory, the group held a rally at which the workers repeatedly stressed the importance of fellow worker, community, and student support in the effort to reclaim stolen wages. DC Jobs with Justice, La Unión de Trabajadores and the rest of the DC Wage Theft Coalition – a group of labor, legal services, and workers’ rights organizations – will continue to support workers in the campaign to end wage theft in Washington, DC. But we can’t do it alone. We needed your support with wage theft at Georgetown restaurants, and we’ll need it again as we continue to send the message that we won’t tolerate wage theft in our city. Thank you so much for standing in solidarity with the Georgetown restaurant workers. Please take the pledge so we can keep you in the loop as we join more and more workers in the fight against wage theft. ...
by dcjwjeditor | Dec 7, 2012 | Guest Blog, Immigrant Rights, Trabajadores Unidos de DC / United Workers of DC, Wage Theft
Guest Blog Post from Barbra A. Kavanaugh December 4, 2012 Everyone knows what theft is, but I am constantly surprised by how few people know what “wage theft” is. Simply put, wage theft is when employers refuse to pay employees the wages they have earned, either by denying them the minimum wage, overtime or frequently, simply not paying them at all. Every week, more than two-thirds of low-wage workers experience at least one incident of wage theft. At a time when many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, for many of the clients we see, even just one incident of wage theft can result in unpaid rent, car repossession or homelessness. One of the most common ways that employers steal wages is by misclassifying their employees as independent contractors to avoid paying the legally required minimum wage and overtime pay. Workers who are wrongly labeled as independent contractors are cheated of many of the legal protections afforded to employees – including minimum wage and overtime. No matter what an employer calls a worker, the law determines whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor. Although there is no hard and fast rule, the more control an employer has over the circumstances of a worker’s employment, the more likely it is that the worker should be considered an employee, and not an independent contractor. For example, if an employer controls the hours that someone works, where they work and provides their equipment, that person is not likely to be an independent contractor. Too often, employers take advantage of workers’ ignorance on this issue, and deny rightful wages, overtime, breaks,...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Jun 14, 2012 | Campaigns, Press, Projects, Trabajadores Unidos de DC / United Workers of DC, Wage Theft
PRESS RELEASE IMMEDIATE RELEASE – UPDATE June 14, 2012 DC WORKERS UNION, DC JOBS WITH JUSTICE, AND METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT CELEBRATE NEW PROCEDURE TO RESOLVE WAGE THEFT COMPLAINTS CONTACT: Arturo Griffiths DC Jobs with Justice PHONE: 202-445-0411 CONTACT: Rachel Sier DC Jobs with Justice PHONE: 202-427-2172 District of Columbia day laborers (Unión de Trabajadores de DC/DC Workers Union) and DC Jobs with Justice announce the development of a new procedure to involve the Metropolitan Police Department in investigating and documenting wage theft cases. On Thursday, June 14th the members of the Unión de Trabajadores de DC/DC Workers Union and DC Jobs with Justice will celebrate this new accord with representatives from the MPD and DOES. The celebration will be held at 7 PM at the Foundry Church located at 1500 P St. NW, Washington, DC For the past several years DC Jobs with Justice has been working with immigrant day laborers to address the rampant problem of wage theft that affects workers throughout the District of Columbia. Wage theft occurs when workers do not get paid for work performed or are laid off without being paid their salary. Carlos Diaz, a member of la Union de Trabajadores de DC, says “Many of us work long hours to make ends meet. But frequently contractors refuse to pay what we are owed at the end of the day. We are happy that the D.C. police will now get involved in assisting us to recover our wages”. This procedure defines the role of the police in supplementing existing institutions by creating a standard protocol and training for officers...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Nov 11, 2008 | Campaigns, Wage Theft
This week Interfaith Worker Justice founder and director Kim Bobo launches her new book, “Wage Theft in America,” which examines the crime wave no one talks about — how billions of dollars worth of wages are stolen from millions of workers in the United States every year. We interviewed her to find out more: DC JwJ: What motivated you to write a book about wage theft? Kim Bobo: Interfaith Worker Justice supports a network of 20 workers centers places where workers who are having problems in their workplaces and are not represented by unions can learn about their rights in the workplace and can join with others to address their problems. The number one issue the workers centers deal with is wage theft workers not getting paid for all their work. I became aware of the breadth of the problem through the workers centers. I also became aware of how frustrated the workers centers were with the Department of Labor’s lack of responsiveness to the problems reported by workers centers and the seeming inability or unwillingness of the DOL leadership to adequately address the crisis of wage theft. rnrnInitially, I planned to write a short monograph offering a new vision for the Department of Labor, but as I began writing I realized that I had to explain why we needed a new vision for the Department of Labor. I started by explaining the crisis of wage theft; then some of my colleagues wanted me to explain how and why wage theft occurs. Pretty soon I had a whole book on wage theft. DC JwJ: The Washington Lawyers’Committee for Civil...
