Trabajadores demandan freno a la ‘epidemia’ de robo de salarios en NYC
Trabajadores demandan freno a la ‘epidemia’ de robo de salarios en NYC
Source:...
Source: El Diario
Freno a la epidemia de robo de salarios fue la consigna que gritaron sin cesar unas 30 empleadas domésticas y jornaleros frente a la Corte de Brooklyn. La acción, liderada por el Proyecto de Justicia Laboral (WJP), sirvió para exponer a un contratista inescrupuloso como parte de “una maquinaria que exprime a las familias trabajadoras”.
Los defensores denunciaron que la creación de’ empresas fantasma’ es una estrategia que los empleadores para esquivar a las autoridades y seguir en el negocio pese a tener casos abiertos en las cortes de la ciudad.
Samuel Just, propietario de Just Cleaning, fue arrestado el verano pasado por la Fiscalía de Brooklyn luego de que el WJP documentara varios casos de robo de salario. Pese a la presión de las autoridades y de los grupos defensores de los jornaleros, el empresario se niega a pagar a las víctimas, la mayoría mujeres latinas.
“El robo de salario es un crimen. No hay otra manera de calificarlo”, sentenció Ligia Guallpa, directora ejecutiva del WJP.
Otras organizaciones se unieron a la protesta para denunciar que el robo de salario afecta radicalmente a las comunidades inmigrantes. Gonzalo Mercado, director ejecutivo de Staten Island Community Job Center, explicó que los contratistas están creando empresas fantasmas para evadir a las autoridades y las pesquisas de los activistas.
“Hemos visto a empleadores circulando por las paradas de jornaleros con camionetas sin logotipos. Su estrategia es evitar ser identificados”, sentenció. “Muchos trabajadores no saben quién los contrata, lo que hace más difícil la recuperación de los salarios”.
El mexicano Oscar Lezama (36) contó que una compañía de Staten Island, que se dedica a la instalación de cocinas, se negó a pagarle unos mil dólares por horas extra.
“No sabía para quién trabajaba. Nunca vi nombres o logotipos que identificaran a la compañía”, comentó.
La organización Staten Island Community Job Center ayudó a Lezama a recuperar su salario mediante negociaciones directas con el propietario, pero Mercado dijo que identificar a la compañía implicó una investigación exhaustiva.
“Las organizaciones, de alguna manera, estamos tomando el rol del Departamento de Trabajo para recuperar los salarios”, dijo Mercado. “Muchos contratistas prefieren la negociación directa y así evitar comparecer en una corte, lo que reduce el tiempo de recuperación de salario, algo que beneficia al trabajador”.
Los defensores están pidiendo mano dura para los contratistas que reinciden en el robo de salario. Parte de sus esfuerzos implica que la Ciudad revoque o niegue la renovación de las licencias.
“Los contratistas recurren a subcontratistas para contratar jornaleros y luego no pagarles”, dijo Guallpa. “En las cortes se defienden argumentando que nunca contrataron al trabajador”.
De acuerdo con la activista, Samuel Just estaría recurriendo a estas estrategias para evadir su responsabilidad. El empresario presuntamente recurre a subcontratistas y empresas fantasma para continuar en el negocio y esquivar a los fiscales, algo que WJP está documentando.
La protesta frente a la Corte de Brooklyn fue la quinta acción colectiva convocada por WJP para exponer al propietario de Just Cleaning, pero también para crear conciencia acerca de que el robo de salario es un problema, que se agudizó en los últimos años, según defensores.
“La falta de denuncia, el miedo de los trabajadores indocumentados y las leyes débiles están nutriendo el abuso de los empleadores”, se lamentó Omar Henríquez, organizador de la Red Nacional de Trabajadores por Día (NDLON). “El robo de salario implica la evasión de impuestos. Es perjudicial para nuestros gobiernos y comunidades”.
El Servicio de Impuestos Internos (IRS) estima que los empleadores clasifican erróneamente a millones de empleados cada año en el país, evitando en promedio cerca de $4.000 en impuestos federales por cada trabajador.
Las víctimas de Just declinaron hacer comentarios por recomendación de sus abogados, pero estuvieron en la protesta demandando justicia. Varias llamadas al empleador no fueron atendidas al cierre de esta edición.
Un estimado de 2.1 millones de neoyorquinos son víctimas de robo de salario al año, lo que representa una pérdida de $3.2 mil millones en pagos y beneficios, según el reporte “By a Thousand Cuts: The Complex Face of Wage Theft in New York” del Center for Popular Democracy Action (CPDA).
Según la Fiscalía de Brooklyn, Just recogía a los trabajadores en una van en la esquina de las avenidas Marcy y Division -en el barrio de Williamsburg-, y les ofrecía entre $10 y $15 la hora. El contratista hizo trabajar a los jornaleros hasta 27 horas seguidas durante la celebración de Pesaj o Pascua Judía, que implica una intensa limpieza de los hogares.
Al menos 11 trabajadores -la mayoría mujeres- habrían sido víctimas de Just, pero sólo cinco se atrevieron a denunciarlo, según los activistas.
“El castigo de empleadores como Just motivará la denuncia y enviará un mensaje claro a otros contratistas que violan las leyes. Sólo así frenaremos la epidemia de robo de salario en Nueva York”, dijo Guallpa.
Yellen to Trump: don't expect a flip-flop on financial reforms
Yellen to Trump: don't expect a flip-flop on financial reforms
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. (Reuters) - Janet Yellen delivered a message to President Donald Trump on Friday, making it clear...
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. (Reuters) - Janet Yellen delivered a message to President Donald Trump on Friday, making it clear that if he re-nominates her as Federal Reserve chair she will not turn her back on the raft of U.S. financial reforms that Republicans want to roll back.
Her speech to the world’s top central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, comes at a time when the chaos at the White House may make it more likely that she would be appointed to serve another four years to head the U.S. central bank.
Read the full article here.
The Fair Workweek Initiative Takes on Abusive Scheduling Practices on Aljazeera America
Aljazeera America - July 24, 2014 - The Center for Popular Democracy's Fair Workweek Initiative Director Carrie Gleason...
Aljazeera America - July 24, 2014 - The Center for Popular Democracy's Fair Workweek Initiative Director Carrie Gleason joins Aljazeera America to discuss how unfair work scheduling impedes low-wage workers from dignity and justice on the job.
Detener los préstamos de día de pago es apenas el inicio
Detener los préstamos de día de pago es apenas el inicio
En los últimos años, se han incrementado las críticas contra los préstamos de día de pago por explotar a los...
En los últimos años, se han incrementado las críticas contra los préstamos de día de pago por explotar a los prestatarios de bajos ingresos y atraparlos en un ciclo de endeudamiento. El problema ha alcanzado tal magnitud, que este verano, la Oficina de Protección Financiera del Consumidor (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau o CFPB) propuso nuevas normas para acabar con las prácticas más abusivas en este sector.
Sin embargo, los prestamistas de día de pago no son los únicos que lucran con las dificultades de las comunidades de bajos ingresos al otorgarles préstamos engañosos que a menudo hacen que la gente termine con deudas abrumadoras. De hecho, esas prácticas orientadas a grupos de bajos ingresos se han vuelto comunes en muchos sectores económicos, desde préstamos hipotecarios hasta financiamiento para estudios universitarios.
Durante décadas, prácticas discriminatorias en ciertos vecindarios les negaron a las personas de color acceso a préstamos hipotecarios, cuentas de banco y otros servicios importantes. Hoy en día, se hace lo mismo con esquemas engañosos de préstamo que les niegan a mujeres negras y latinas la oportunidad de una vida mejor.
Un informe reciente subraya el impacto que dichas prácticas han tenido en las mujeres de color. Entre otros datos alarmantes, el informe indica que 6 de cada 10 clientes de préstamos de día de pago son mujeres, que la probabilidad de que las mujeres de raza negra reciban un préstamo con tasa no preferencial es 256% más alta que la de hombres blancos de las mismas características y que las mujeres de color terminan pagando deudas estudiantiles durante mucho más tiempo que los hombres. El estudio, encargado por la Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, New Jersey Communities United e Isaiah, un grupo religioso en Minnesota, también prueba que las prácticas agresivas en préstamos, desde aquellos contra el cheque de pago hasta hipotecas con tasas altas, han aumentado considerablemente en años recientes. Muchos estudios han demostrado que se manipula a prestatarios con una buena historia crediticia, particularmente mujeres negras y latinas, para que saquen préstamos con intereses altos incluso cuando reúnen los requisitos para tasas más bajas.
Las mujeres de color son vulnerables a prestamistas de dudosa reputación debido a que el racismo y sexismo del sistema de por sí pone a muchas mujeres en una posición económica precaria. Cada vez más, se ha empujado a las mujeres a aceptar trabajos con poco control y paga. En la fuerza laboral con sueldos bajos predomina la mujer, y la brecha salarial entre los sexos afecta mucho más a las mujeres de color. En el año 2014, las mujeres de raza negra ganaban 63% de los ingresos de hombres blancos, y las latinas, 54%. Muchas mujeres de color, estancadas en empleos con poca paga, horarios imprevisibles y pocas oportunidades de superarse, se ven forzadas a sacar préstamos simplemente para subsistir o tratar de mejorar su desesperada situación.
Durante demasiado tiempo, se ha permitido que proliferen los préstamos usurarios y otras prácticas empresariales que les niegan oportunidades a comunidades y explotan a los más vulnerables en términos económicos. El mes pasado, la Consumer Financial Protection Bureau comenzó a tomar medidas contra los préstamos de día de pago o garantizados con títulos de propiedad de autos, pero es necesario hacer más. Las entidades normativas deben asegurarse de que todos los préstamos tomen en cuenta la capacidad del prestatario de pagar la deuda y de que los prestamistas no vayan en pos de los menos protegidos desproporcionadamente y traten de lucrar con ellos.
Las normas para préstamos de día de pago del mes pasado muestran claramente un ímpetu en combatir los préstamos cada vez más abusivos de los banqueros. Estas normas son un paso en la dirección correcta, pero no van suficientemente lejos. Estamos avanzando, pero queda mucho por hacer para asegurar que no se explote a las mujeres negras y latinas con esta versión de discriminación del siglo XXI.
Por Marbre Stahly-Butts
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On-call Shifts String Retail Workers Along
The Boston Globe - April 19, 2015, by Dante Ramos - Because life-threatening crises arise at odd times, people in some...
The Boston Globe - April 19, 2015, by Dante Ramos - Because life-threatening crises arise at odd times, people in some fields have days when they’re on call. EMTs get called to accident scenes. Doctors have patients who might fall ill or go into labor at any moment. But do unforeseen variations in sweater sales, or in foot traffic in the housewares department, have the same urgency? Of course not.
Recently, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent letters demanding information from Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Urban Outfitters, and 10 other major retail chains about their use of on-call shifts — periods for which an employee must keep an open schedule but might not end up working.
Instead of simply reporting for work, the employee has to check in with a supervisor a few hours in advance. If she gets called in, she may have to scramble for a babysitter. If she doesn’t get called in, she doesn’t get paid, and it’s too late to get a shift on a second job. “People will be scheduled for eight on-call shifts in a pay period and only get called in for one shift,” says attorney Rachel Deutsch of the Center for Popular Democracy, a labor advocacy group.
Some of the retailers Schneiderman targeted have written the practice into their employee handbooks. Others, such as JC Penney, told reporters last week they have policies against it. Still others have responded cryptically to reporters’ inquires; TJX, the Massachusetts-based discount giant, told CNN Money that its schedules “serve the needs” of workers and the chain. I contacted the company to clarify, but it didn’t respond.
On-call shifts are a new frontier: They’ve proliferated at big chains because of just-in-time scheduling software, which uses up-to-the-minute data to maximize sales while minimizing the number of employees on the clock at slower times. Statistics are hard to come by, although a 2011 survey by Retail Action Project, another advocacy group, found that 43 percent of New York City retail workers were assigned to on-call shifts sometimes or often. Until Schneiderman’s office started sending out letters, the practice had attracted little regulatory attention. (In Massachusetts, the attorney general’s office is watching what happens in New York, but hasn’t taken similar action.)
Despite their relative novelty in retail, on-call shifts speak to an age-old tension. Economic life is full of uncertainty. How much should employers bear, and how much should fall on workers? Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, argues that stores face stiff competition from e-commerce and survive at the mercy of the customer who, he says, “moves on a dime.” He adds, “If you choose to work in retailing, you have to live with the consumer.”
In other sectors, though, people who work on call are often paid salaries that presume some unpredictability, or they’re paid for the time they spend waiting around. Deutsch used to work as a union rep for hospitals in the Bay Area. One hospital, she says, had a handful of technicians on staff who performed echocardiograms during the workday. After hours, there was a technician on call, who was paid half-time for those shifts even when there was no work.
A key difference: Echocardiogram techs have a specialized skill. Entry-level retail workers don’t, and those averse to on-call shifts are easily replaced.
Businesses aren’t social-service agencies. To rely on employers as guarantors of health care and retirement security, as the US government did after World War II, is to assume they and their workers want to be bound together intimately, for decades on end. But at the other extreme, companies that treat employee relationships as fleeting and transactional — the workplace equivalent of a one-night stand — will end up with lots of churn in their ranks.
Or they’ll be subject to lots of government mandates. Responding to a variety of complaints about unpredictable schedules, San Francisco last year approved a far-reaching “retail worker bill of rights” that, among other things, requires employers to post schedules weeks in advance. A proposed Massachusetts law has similar provisions. Hurst points out that parts of the bill would have hamstrung local retailers in February, when sales plunged during a four-week Ice Age.
Retail chains can forestall such rules by changing their ways. When stores train workers to do more than scan tags and say “I can help who’s next,” those workers can improvise. They might tend to customers during a sudden rush while prioritizing other jobs, like restocking shelves, at slower moments. If employers still believe they need on-call shifts, they can simply guarantee employees some pay for those periods. Ideally, chains would do so voluntarily. In practice, some will need a regulatory nudge.
When retailers can claim free options on hourly workers’ time, they have no incentive to make firm decisions in advance. But no one likes being strung along, and no one’s life is infinitely flexible.
Soure
House Republicans face voters in home districts angry over health care bill
House Republicans face voters in home districts angry over health care bill
Rep. Tom Reed of New York, who was among the Republican members of Congress to vote for a bill to repeal and replace...
Rep. Tom Reed of New York, who was among the Republican members of Congress to vote for a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, held a string of hometown forums on Saturday where he was lambasted by crowds of angry voters and signs that read, "GOP Disaster" and "Why do you want to kill my daughter?"
Reed, whose district in upstate New York includes the cities of Ithaca and Corning, held three town hall meetings where the overwhelming majority of attendees had questions about health care. The congressman was met with boos and jeers throughout the forums, with people repeatedly chanting "Shame!" and "Vote him out!"
Get the full story here.
Companies End On-Call Scheduling After NY Attorney General’s Letter
Gap Inc. is the latest retailer to end its practice of requiring workers to remain on-call for short-notice shifts...
Gap Inc. is the latest retailer to end its practice of requiring workers to remain on-call for short-notice shifts following an inquiry from New York’s attorney general.
A spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based retailer says the decision also applies to Gap’s other brands, including Banana Republic, Old Navy and Athleta and was part of an effort to “improve scheduling stability and flexibility” for workers.
Spokeswoman Laura Wilkinson says the change will apply “across our global organization” and that the company is working to establish scheduling systems giving store employees at least 10 to 14 days’ notice.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office sent letters to Gap and 12 other retailers earlier this year questioning them about on-call scheduling, which required hourly workers to stay on-call for shifts set the night before or the same day, giving them little time to arrange for child care or work other jobs.
“Workers deserve stable and reliable work schedules, and I commend Gap for taking an important step to make their employees’ schedules fairer and more predictable,” said Schneiderman, a Democrat.
Abercrombie & Fitch and Victoria’s Secret also ended the practice this summer.
Carrie Gleason, director of the Fair Workweek Initiative at the Center for Popular Democracy, said in a statement that Gap’s decision reflects not only Schneiderman’s concerns but also a new ordinance in San Francisco requiring chain retailers to set schedules in advance. Similar proposals are pending before other city governments.
“Working people in hourly jobs are starting to speak out about the impact that employers’ scheduling practices has on their lives,” Gleason said in a statement.
Source: CBS DC
The King who carried on the fight for economic justice
The King who carried on the fight for economic justice
Coretta Scott King opposed violence in all its forms — from the personal violence that took her husband 50 years ago...
Coretta Scott King opposed violence in all its forms — from the personal violence that took her husband 50 years ago Wednesday, to what she described as the economic violence of unemployment and poverty that continues around us.
Read the full article here.
Immigration Advocates Applaud Mayor Bill De Blasio’s ID Card Plan
CBSNew York - February 11, 2014 - Undocumented immigrants and their supporters are cheering Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan...
CBSNew York - February 11, 2014 - Undocumented immigrants and their supporters are cheering Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan for creating city identification cards this year. But, as WCBS 880′s Alex Silverman reported, they also want to make sure New York gets it right.
During his State of the City address Monday, de Blasio vowed to make municipal ID cards available to all residents in 2014 regardless of their immigration status, “so that no daughter or son of our city goes without bank accounts, leases, library cards, simply because they lack identification.”
“To all of my fellow New Yorkers who are undocumented, I say: New York City is your home, too, and we will not force any of our residents to live their lives in the shadows,” he said.
Aracely Cruz said she’s been waiting 10 years to hear a promise like de Blasio’s.
“I face fear every day,” she said. “I don’t trust anybody.”
Cruz was among the immigration reform proponents who gathered at a news conference Tuesday in lower Manhattan. Also in attendance were a mother who wants the freedom to walk into her child’s school and a day laborer who says he has spent 15 years in Queens with nothing to show to prove he’s part of the city.
City Councilman Carlos Menchaca, D-Brooklyn, head of the Immigration Committee, said members are drafting a bill to create the cards and plans to hold a hearing on the matter within the next month.
“We’re not going to wait for a federal government to give us reform,” he said.
“We’re tired of Congress failing us and failing our families,” said Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. “And what we do in New York is we don’t wait for Congress.”
One concern advocates such as Steve Choi, executive director of the New York City Immigration Coalition, have is “we have to make sure we are ensuring trust, that the city agencies, such as the library and the police, are able to really accept these municipal ID cards without fear that folks are going to be branded somehow.”
Brittny Saunders, a lawyer with the Center for Popular Democracy, said other cities have created an incentive for citizens to also obtain the cards ”by connecting up these IDs with discounts at local businesses.”
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, agreed the ID cards should be used for all New Yorkers, not just undocumented immigrants.
“I, for one, intend to get a municipal ID because I want to use the ID that’s accessible to all New Yorkers,” she said.
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Rally Aims To Highlight Racial Employment Disparities In Metro Area
CBS Minnesota - March 4, 2015 - A report to be released on Thursday aims to highlight employment disparities in the...
CBS Minnesota - March 4, 2015 - A report to be released on Thursday aims to highlight employment disparities in the Twin Cities.
The groups Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, the Center for Popular Democracy, and the Economic Policy Institute say they plan to hold a rally at the Neighborhoods Organizing for Change offices on Thursday afternoon to draw attention to the racial differences between wages and jobs available here.
The groups say that, though the economy is adding jobs, the unemployment rate among black residents in the Twin Cities metro area is nearly four times that of white residents.
The groups said that the racial disparities on display in Minnesota are “among the worst in the nation.”
The rally is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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4 days ago
4 days ago