Help launch our Stop Wage Theft Campaign!

Work is fundamental to who we are as human beings.  Work has different meanings for different people, but for all workers, it is the way we meet our basic needs, sustaining ourselves and our families.  For too many residents in Shelby County, their hard work is often underappreciated and even goes unpaid.  These workers are victims of wage theft.

Many workers each year experience wage theft, often forcing them to choose between paying their rent or putting food on the table.  I invite you to stand with workers and ask our county to put an end to wage theft today!

Take action: Here's what you can do to help stop Wage Theft in Shelby Couty:

1) Call the Board of Commissioners at 901-222-1000
Tell your Commissioner it is necessary for workers to have a process to file complaints against employers who steal wages from employees in Shelby County. Our entire community benefits when workers are paid correctly and all employers are held to the same standards.

2) Read and Share The Epidemic of Wage Theft in Shelby County, Tennessee. Stories of Unprotected Workers and How We Can Address This Crisis.  
This wage theft report shares the experiences of 7 workers in Shelby County that have experienced wage theft, gives background information about wage theft, and ways that you can help prevent wage theft.  Page 14 of the report includes e-mail addresses for all County Commissioners! 

3) Read Windi Thomas's excellent article on WIN's campaign to get a wage theft law passed that appeared in the  Commercial Appeal on Sunday, June 3, 2012. 

Thank you for standing with workers struggling for justice on the job!

Practicing What We Preach: Why WIN Employees Have a Union

by Rev. Rebekah Gienapp, executive director   
    When workers decide to form unions, often their employers go on the rampage. Holding lengthy meetings with workers to talk about the evils of unions, threatening to close the business, and illegally firing union supporters are all too common. But here at Workers Interfaith Network, I welcomed the opportunity for our employees to form a union, even though I am the "manager" around here.

WIN employees celebrate the signing of our first union contract.

   Two weeks ago, WIN signed a union contract with the St. Louis Newspaper Guild, Local 36047 of the Communication Workers of America. Why do we see this as a good thing for our organization and for our employees? Here's a few reasons:

• Our employees deserve to have a voice in decisions made around here. This includes decisions about how their work should be done. A union contract provides a framework for that kind of collaborative decision-making.
• It's not healthy for one person in an organization to have all the power. Everyone has biases, including me. Having a set process for disciplining employees helps limit that bias. And, if an employee, feels like I have made an unfair decision that doesn't follow our union contract, we have a way to work out that dispute.
• The contract makes clear to our employees our commitment to pay living wages and provide health and retirement benefits. These are the things we advocate for every day for workers throughout Memphis. We want to provide the same kind of good jobs we advocate for here at WIN. We were already paying living wages and providing benefits before the contract was signed. But now we can't arbitrarily change those things without negotiating with our employees.
• We're now a formal part of the labor movement, which has done so much for all workers - not just union members. We can thank unions for so many things - the minimum wage, the 8 hour work day, the end of child labor, and much more. Our employees' union membership is a small way to strenghten this important movement.
• Union membership gives WIN access to quality health care and retirement plans at a reasonable cost. Because we're now part of national plans through the Communication Workers, our health care premiums are much lower than they would be otherwise.

    Too many employers see any gain for their workers as a loss for their organization or business. Here at WIN, we see things differently. Treating our employees the way we want all workers to be treated brings integrity to our work. It helps create an atmosphere of loyalty, where WIN employees stick around for the long haul to organize for justice. And as a supervisor, the presence of a union reminds me to check my own actions with employees for fairness. Because I don't know about you, but I always find room for improvement in myself!

Want to take action with workers seeking justice? Sign up for email action alerts from Workers Interfaith Network at http://www.workersinterfaithnetwork.org/index/involved/subscribe.htm

UT Health Science Center Refuses to Allow Clergy, Laid Off Workers to Enter Administration Building

   In the eight years that I've been director of Workers Interfaith Network, I've been part of numerous clergy delegations that have attempted to talk to managers and owners about working conditions and problems in the workplaces. In a number of cases, we have managed to talk to a plant manager or similar person. I can think of only one occasion in which a company in a small town, which was notoriously unsafe and discriminatory in their practices, would not allow our delegation to even enter the building.     
   
   I certainly expected that when a delegation of clergy joined workers laid off from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) yesterday to talk about the layoffs, that we would be able to speak to someone from the Chancellor's Office. Instead, we were greeted by a security guard and a police officer (we must have looked like an intimidating group!) who would not allow us to enter the lobby because we did not have an appointment. When a representative of the United Campus Workers asked if security could call the Chancellor's office to let them know we were there, because he had already made multiple attempts to make an appointment, the security guard claimed he did not have the phone number of the Chancellor's office. I wonder how we would have contacted them if we had an appointment if he doesn't have the phone number? I guess I am naive, but I expected that a state institution would behave at least as well as the many union-busting private companies I have visited over the years.
     
   The refusal of UTHSC officials to return letters and calls from workers and the union, as well as their refusal to allow us to set foot in the lobby of a state building, are signs of much more serious concerns. Even though UTHSC has received over $30 million in stimulus money from the federal ARRA and state MOE funds, that money has not been used to save jobs. Thirty-three workers were laid off this month, including long-time employees like Michele Burrell, who has posted a you tube video outlining workers' concerns about the way that were laid off, severance, and recall rights. 
   
    Two of the laid-off workers I spoke with on Wednesday are single mothers who were making very modest salaries, leaving them totally unprepared for a layoff. Since workers did not get any advanced notice of the layoffs, not even one day, how could they have prepared? One of the women has a disabled son that she does not know how she will care for; the other asked where she could get health insurance after September 30th because there is no possible way she can afford COBRA. 
   
    The demographics of who was included in the layoffs is also of concern. While Chancellor Schwab is paid $550,000 a year by UT, many laid off workers were making less than $25,000 annually. When 18 of the laid off workers are African-American women, 10 are white women, and 5 are white men, you have to wonder if gender and racial discrimination could have been at work in decisions about who would be laid off. Because UTHSC has not disclosed what methods they used to decide on layoffs (such as seniority or performance reviews), there is no way to check for possible discrimination. 
    
   What do workers want?
1. UTHSC should use recovery money to stop additional layoffs.
2. Laid off workers should have recall rights for new positions that come open, and/or placement into currently open UTHSC positions.
3. Workers deserve severance pay that is equal to that of other laid off state of Tennessee workers. UTHSC workers received less than six weeks severance (with no notice of layoffs) while other state and higher education workers have received up to four months of salary and up to two years of tuition assistance. Because the current severance package only goes through September 30th, workers will not be eligible for any possible bonus money the state may give.
4. UTHSC should fully disclose how layoffs were conducted to verify there weren't irregularities or discrimination based on race, gender, or age.

    You can support laid off UTHSC workers by calling Chancellor Schwab's office at 901-448-4796. Urge him to use federal stimulus money to save workers' jobs, and call on him to meet with laid off workers to hear their concerns. You can also send an email on United Campus Workers' website.

   UT needs to know that the Memphis community wants stimulus funds to be used for their proper purpose: preventing layoffs in a time where it will be incredibly difficult for workers to find new jobs. 



    

Wage Theft is a Crime Rally Delivers Results

Last week, WIN members showed once again that you are powerful when we stand together against injustice! More than 40 people rallied at the Shelby County Courthouse, calling on Sheriff Luttrell and District Attorney Gibbons to treat wage theft as a crime.

Jose Leon and Bill Bright of the District Attorney's Office receive more than 1,200 petition signatures on wage theft that you helped collect.

The rally delivered results: Sheriff Luttrell called the day before the rally and agreed to contact Attorney Gibbons to request a joint meeting with WIN to discuss our proposal to criminalize wage theft. At the rally, attorneys Bill Bright and Jose Leon of the District Attorney's office came out to meet the crowd and receive over 1,200 petition signatures that you helped collect. They also indicated they are willing to meet with WIN to discuss our wage theft proposal.

We will keep you posted about developments in the campaign.

Be sure to attend our Sheriff Candidate forum on Thursday, April 29th to make sure that no matter who our next Sheriff is, wage theft is on his agenda! The forum will be held at 6:30 p.m. at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, located at 692 Poplar Ave.

The non-partisan forum is open to all candidates for Shelby County Sheriff and all community members. Workers and community members will talk about the crisis of wage theft, and ask candidates for Sheriff how they will address the crisis if elected.

Even if Sheriff Luttrell develops a policy to treat wage theft as a crime before he leaves office, the next Sheriff's actions will determine whether or not the policy is enforced. Show Sheriff candidates just how important this issue is to the community by attending the candidate forum!

View press coverage of last week's rally: A story in The Commercial Appeal and a guest column on wage theft by WIN board member Erika Eubanks.

Learn more about the Wage Theft is a Crime campaign

Why WIN is Joining the March for America

Today, I'm holding down the fort here in Memphis while two of my co-workers and nine workers from WIN's Workers' Center travel to Washington, DC for the March for America. About 100,000 people are expected to take part in this march for comprehensive immigration reform. Why do we think that now is the time for immigration reform?

1) Our diverse faith traditions call on us to love the immigrant and seek justice for all people. The Hebrew scriptures caution us to "not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for  you were aliens in the land of Egypt." (Exodus 23:9) My own Christian tradition directs me to welcome the "stranger" (a term that specifically refers to immigrants) as if he or she is Jesus himself (Matthew 25:35). Islam also teaches that God desires justice, including for those who are refugees or strangers. The day after the march a high level delegation of religious leaders will be meeting with the White House to share these messages and press for immigration reform.

2) Families are being torn apart. I can't imagine what it would be like to live in fear that my child could be taken from me at any moment. Or what's it's like to have to work in another country without your family, just so they can survive. But thousands of immigrant families live with these fears and these realities every day.

Our broken immigration system makes it very difficult for many immigrant workers to reunite with their families. The agony of family separation discourages people from working within the current immigration system. (If you have questions about why people don't "wait in line" to get a visa under the current U.S. immigration system, check out this easy to understand chart by Reason magazine that shows how long it takes to become a citizen depending on your immigration situation.)

The number of deportations during President Obama's first year is higher than in previous years. As Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine points out, this means more broken lives. "That is not what we meant by change," Wallis writes, and I agree.

3) Workers' rights are being eroded. Every day at Workers Interfaith Network, we see the ways that employers take advantage of undocumented workers by paying them below minimum wage and intimidating immigrants who try to form unions. Many immigrant workers want to organize for better working conditions and pay, but they have to balance that desire with the fear of deportation. When employers can hire immigrant workers for low wages and bad working conditions, it hurts all workers. Immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for immigrant workers already working and paying taxes in the U.S. would level the playing field for all workers.

Wage Theft At El Patron Restaurant

Your action is needed to help worker Jorge Panuco recover his stolen wages. Mr. Panuco worked as a waiter at El Patron Restaurant in Southaven for more than a year. He never received any pay besides his customers' tips.

The restaurant owes him $16,150 in unpaid minimum wages and overtime. That's an enormous amount of wages to have stolen from just one worker! Wage theft in restaurants is all too common. Investigations by the U.S Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division of restaurants in eleven cities found that between 30 - 78 percent of restaurants in each city were breaking wage and hour laws.

The owner of the restaurant has not responded to WIN's attempts to negotiate. It's now time to alert El Patron's customers about wage theft at the restaurant. Please join us:

Picket at El Patron Restaurant
Friday, February 19th
11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
920 Main St., Southaven, MS

We will be passing out leaflets to El Patron customers alerting them to wage theft at the restaurant. The last time we passed out leaflets at a restaurant about wage theft, the worker was paid on the spot! Even if you cannot stay the whole time, please stop by for a half hour to help.

Let us know if you can join us!