curt_b
09-08-2009, 08:12 AM
This ran on the front page of Saturday's Cincinnati Enquirer. It's a ultra right wing rag, and the only daily in the city. What it doesn't say is that most of wages we recover are done through direct action, not the Department of Labor or the Courts.
Our ED quoted here was a long time UE organizer in Mexico and California.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090828/NEWS0107/908290342
Wage-theft reports on the rise
By Dan Horn
When Don Sherman's phone rang in his office one morning last week, he knew right away what it was about.
"That's another worker who didn't get paid," he said.
Sherman, executive director of the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers' Center, has fielded calls like this every week for most of the year from construction workers, maids and fast-food restaurant workers who claim they were cheated by their bosses.
Sherman's group, which helps workers recover money they are owed, is on the front lines of a growing fight over wage theft.
Complaints of underpayment or non-payment of wages have risen sharply during the past two years, in part because more businesses are cutting corners or shutting down in these tough economic times.
The Ohio Department of Commerce saw a nearly 50 percent increase in minimum wage complaints from 2007 to this year and more than doubled the amount of unpaid wages it has collected on behalf of workers. Complaints also are up in Kentucky, where the state's unpaid wage collections have nearly doubled from 2007 to this year.
Sherman said his group has recovered almost as much in back wages so far this year - $164,000 - as it did in the past two years combined.
"It seems like locally there's been an explosion," Sherman said. "We've seen more and more of that in the last six months, in particular, as the economy hit bottom."
Wage theft can happen in any business, but it's most common among low-wage employees in industries such as construction, housekeeping, retail and food service. Those employees often have no union protection and fewer resources to put up a fight over their wages.
Immigrants, both legal and illegal, also are frequent victims of wage theft because disreputable employers figure they are less likely to complain, especially if they speak little English or are here illegally. All workers, including illegal immigrants, are entitled under the law to be paid for the work they do.
"It's easier to get away without paying someone if they are undocumented. What can they do?" said Jason Riveiro, spokesman for the League of United Latin American Citizens. "Most people get screwed. They give up."
Jose Alvarado said he's one of those workers, an illegal immigrant from Honduras who has lived in America for 18 years. He said he and five other members of his work crew are owed more than $18,000 for a roof and drywall job they did in the Cincinnati area earlier this year.
When the job was done, he said, the man who hired them refused to pay and threatened to turn them into immigration authorities.
"This guy has not paid me nothing, not one penny," said Alvarado, who has a wife and six children. "If I don't work, my family don't eat."
No criminal or civil complaints have been filed against the man Alvarado claims stiffed him, but Sherman said the Interfaith Workers' Center is investigating the complaint. The center does not ask workers if they are here legally and focuses instead on enforcement of wage and hour laws, which require payment regardless of status.
Sherman said Alvarado's complaint is a common one among day laborers, whether they are immigrants or non-immigrants.
He said contractors are so pressed these days to get work that they sometimes under-bid a contract and then underpay the laborers who do the job. He said workers, in turn, are so desperate they are more likely to take a job even if they know the risk of wage theft is high.
"Workers now will take pretty much anything," Sherman said.
While many workers never file a formal complaint, Sherman said his group has helped more than 100 laborers recover $164,000 so far this year. That number is fast-approaching the $200,000 collected in the past two years combined.
State officials say minimum wage complaints are up from 695 to 1,028 from fiscal year 2007 to 2009. The amount of money collected from those complaints jumped from $242,284 to $581,916.
"There is definitely a noticeable increase," said Dennis Ginty, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Commerce, which handles the complaints. "What we are noticing is that in this challenging economy, with many companies failing, some companies aren't paying their employees."
He said the most common cause of wage theft is the failure of companies to issue final paychecks to employees after a layoff or a closure.
Several major companies, including Wal-Mart, have settled claims of wage theft involving thousands of workers in recent years, and some labor advocates say wage theft costs American workers billions of dollars a year.
"It's been a problem here for awhile," said Doug Sizemore, secretary-treasurer of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council.
He said the combination of the lousy economy and understaffed enforcement officials has made the problem worse in the past year or so. A Government Accounting Office report this year found widespread problems in the way the Department of Labor handles complaints, ranging from long delays to poor investigations.
In one case, the report found, an investigator ignored a complaint and told the caller to "contact his Congressman."
Sherman said his group, which has two paid employees, including him, is struggling to keep up with the volume of complaints. He said some workers just decide to move on when they learn that filing a complaint with the state could take months to resolve.
"When they realize it's not going to be an easy process, they say, 'They might pay me, and that's good enough,'" Sherman said. "They don't want to fight it."
Our ED quoted here was a long time UE organizer in Mexico and California.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090828/NEWS0107/908290342
Wage-theft reports on the rise
By Dan Horn
When Don Sherman's phone rang in his office one morning last week, he knew right away what it was about.
"That's another worker who didn't get paid," he said.
Sherman, executive director of the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers' Center, has fielded calls like this every week for most of the year from construction workers, maids and fast-food restaurant workers who claim they were cheated by their bosses.
Sherman's group, which helps workers recover money they are owed, is on the front lines of a growing fight over wage theft.
Complaints of underpayment or non-payment of wages have risen sharply during the past two years, in part because more businesses are cutting corners or shutting down in these tough economic times.
The Ohio Department of Commerce saw a nearly 50 percent increase in minimum wage complaints from 2007 to this year and more than doubled the amount of unpaid wages it has collected on behalf of workers. Complaints also are up in Kentucky, where the state's unpaid wage collections have nearly doubled from 2007 to this year.
Sherman said his group has recovered almost as much in back wages so far this year - $164,000 - as it did in the past two years combined.
"It seems like locally there's been an explosion," Sherman said. "We've seen more and more of that in the last six months, in particular, as the economy hit bottom."
Wage theft can happen in any business, but it's most common among low-wage employees in industries such as construction, housekeeping, retail and food service. Those employees often have no union protection and fewer resources to put up a fight over their wages.
Immigrants, both legal and illegal, also are frequent victims of wage theft because disreputable employers figure they are less likely to complain, especially if they speak little English or are here illegally. All workers, including illegal immigrants, are entitled under the law to be paid for the work they do.
"It's easier to get away without paying someone if they are undocumented. What can they do?" said Jason Riveiro, spokesman for the League of United Latin American Citizens. "Most people get screwed. They give up."
Jose Alvarado said he's one of those workers, an illegal immigrant from Honduras who has lived in America for 18 years. He said he and five other members of his work crew are owed more than $18,000 for a roof and drywall job they did in the Cincinnati area earlier this year.
When the job was done, he said, the man who hired them refused to pay and threatened to turn them into immigration authorities.
"This guy has not paid me nothing, not one penny," said Alvarado, who has a wife and six children. "If I don't work, my family don't eat."
No criminal or civil complaints have been filed against the man Alvarado claims stiffed him, but Sherman said the Interfaith Workers' Center is investigating the complaint. The center does not ask workers if they are here legally and focuses instead on enforcement of wage and hour laws, which require payment regardless of status.
Sherman said Alvarado's complaint is a common one among day laborers, whether they are immigrants or non-immigrants.
He said contractors are so pressed these days to get work that they sometimes under-bid a contract and then underpay the laborers who do the job. He said workers, in turn, are so desperate they are more likely to take a job even if they know the risk of wage theft is high.
"Workers now will take pretty much anything," Sherman said.
While many workers never file a formal complaint, Sherman said his group has helped more than 100 laborers recover $164,000 so far this year. That number is fast-approaching the $200,000 collected in the past two years combined.
State officials say minimum wage complaints are up from 695 to 1,028 from fiscal year 2007 to 2009. The amount of money collected from those complaints jumped from $242,284 to $581,916.
"There is definitely a noticeable increase," said Dennis Ginty, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Commerce, which handles the complaints. "What we are noticing is that in this challenging economy, with many companies failing, some companies aren't paying their employees."
He said the most common cause of wage theft is the failure of companies to issue final paychecks to employees after a layoff or a closure.
Several major companies, including Wal-Mart, have settled claims of wage theft involving thousands of workers in recent years, and some labor advocates say wage theft costs American workers billions of dollars a year.
"It's been a problem here for awhile," said Doug Sizemore, secretary-treasurer of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council.
He said the combination of the lousy economy and understaffed enforcement officials has made the problem worse in the past year or so. A Government Accounting Office report this year found widespread problems in the way the Department of Labor handles complaints, ranging from long delays to poor investigations.
In one case, the report found, an investigator ignored a complaint and told the caller to "contact his Congressman."
Sherman said his group, which has two paid employees, including him, is struggling to keep up with the volume of complaints. He said some workers just decide to move on when they learn that filing a complaint with the state could take months to resolve.
"When they realize it's not going to be an easy process, they say, 'They might pay me, and that's good enough,'" Sherman said. "They don't want to fight it."