NYS Senate Wants to Make it OK for Businesses to Steal Wages

It's a crime that this isn't receiving much attention in NY Political arenas, blogs and papers.  Thankfully the Huffington Post did a write up on NY State Senate Republicans motions to remove and repeal New York's Wage Theft Prevention Act, an act designed and used to protect workers, guaranteeing they're paid the correct wages, protecting workers from dishonest employers.

We put out a release on Tuesday slamming the Senate's budget resolution for including the full repeal of the WTPA.  When Republicans cite that the act of ensuring their employees are receiving the correct pay is "a costly mandate", it's just bad politics, again.

WESTBURY, NEW YORK (03/13/2012))-- New York State's largest grocery workers Union criticized yesterday's State Senate budget resolution for including the full repeal of the Wage Theft Prevention Act. The Wage Theft Prevention Act was passed in 2010 and increased penalties for employers who fail to pay their employees their proper wages. The Senate voted last week to begin repealing portions of the bill,

"The Republican Party in New York has proven that they believe the only way for New York to be open for business is if employers feel comfortable that they can get away with stealing from their workers" said Patrick Purcell, spokesperson for United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500, the lead Union in the campaign to pass the WTPA in 2010.

"Part V, under the New Jobs New York section of the Senate budget proposal, seeks to repeal the Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2010 because it is, according the Republicans, a costly mandate on NY employers. The absurdity of this proposal is that the WTPA is only costly to the employers who steal. So for the first time in recent history, the Republican Senate has decided to act on behalf of actual thieves. Dead beat employers all over New York State should sleep soundly knowing Republican Senators such as Jack Martin, Marty Golden, Kemp Hannon and Lee Zeldin are looking out for their interest," Purcell stated.

Last week the State Senate voted to repeal the annual notice portion of the Wage Theft Prevention Act, a one page document an employee must sign to acknowledge the wage that has been promised them by their employer.

"Clearly the Republican Senators have discovered the hidden reason some New York businesses are struggling in today's economy. It is the tremendous burden of this one sheet of paper their employees must fill out once a year," Purcell claimed. "Perhaps if employers were not required to get this one-sheet of paper filled out, the economy could move forward and good business owners like Mario Batali and Moutaz Ali can get back to turning profits while robbing their workers of their earned wages," Purcell concluded.

Last Thursday, Batali was ordered to pay $5.25 million to 1,100 workers in seven of his restaurants who claim to have been cheated out of tips. Also last week, Moutaz Ali, owner of Veranda Restaurant in Greenwich Village agreed to pay $150,000 in restitution for employees who were paid below the minimum wage and did not receive overtime pay as required by law. In addition, the eatery was ordered to pay out $50,000 in restitution for damages, lost wages, and penalties for wrongfully terminating the two complaining workers.

UFCW Local 1500 represents 23,000 grocery workers in New York State. Members are employed by Stop Shop, Shop Rite, Pathmark, King Kullen and Fairway. Their members live and work in Long Island, the five boroughs, Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess Counties.

Tuesday Afternoon One Liners: Walmart Chicago, A&P gets a Complaint

“Our Union will continue to drive home the point that it is the workers that will lead A&P out of its financial troubles. However, they have a both a moral and legal obligation to do all they can for employees that are being impacted immediately by this bankruptcy.”
-Bruce W. Both, President of UFCW Local 1500 in a statement today announcing they have filed charges against A&P.

Supermarket News writes, financial lawsuits pile up at A&P...Meanwhile A&P and Stop & Shop settle the Rocky Vitale suit, terms of the settlement were not disclosed.  Bloomberg News has more details.

Residents in Toms River are wondering where they're going to shop for groceries.

A U.S. appeals court ruled against Arizona's Immigration law.  Read it @ NY Times.

Walmart's response to Target's 'P-Fresh', price matching, read the synopsis in the Minnesota Star Tribune. No surprise they launched a multi-million dollar advertising campaign on Monday.

At Related's Headquarters, a FlashMob sang and performed in protest to a potential Walmart opening a store in NYC.

Crain's Investigative report, Chicago Walmart Failures:

When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. hired Margaret Garner in 2005 as the first black woman contractor to build one of its stores, she was hailed as a symbol of the benefits local businesses and minority communities would reap from the retail giant's push into Chicago.

Six years later, her company is bankrupt, crushed by cost overruns on Wal-Mart's first Chicago store, located in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. A Crain's investigation shows that the benefits to minority contractors were less than suggested by the hype surrounding Ms. Garner's hiring.

At a community meeting on Monday, Walmart didn't receive too warm of a welcome @ CBS News.  They've also closed on their coveted land in the South Side of Chicago for their first Super Center..

This Saturday, Make the Road NY's innovative new piece of legislation, the Wage Theft Prevention Act (WTPA) went into effect. This comprehensive new State law marks an enormous victory for workers throughout New York.  Read more @ Crain's.

John Castimatidis was interviewed on Gotham Radio this weekend, topics ranging from Mayoral race to Walmart in NYC.

And the 2011 UFCW International Scholarship Application is now available. Sign up!