Wage theft stinks! A message from my baby

Even babies know that wage theft stinks! That's why my son Daniel is asking you to join him in the fight against wage theft by sponsoring the Faith and Labor Picnic.

Daniel has been counting up our Faith and Labor Picnic sponsorships, and he tells me that we're over halfway to our goal of $6,250 in sponsorships. But he needs your help to make sure we meet our goal!

Here are just a few ways that your sponsorship will stop stinky wage theft:

• making possible our new campaign for a Shelby County wage theft ordinance. When it's passed, workers will have a simple way to recover their stolen wages from employers.
• supporting our Workers' Center, which has used community pressure to recover over $71,000 in stolen wages in the last four years.
• educating workers about their rights to fair pay and ways they can prevent wage theft.

I know that you want to stop wage theft as much as Daniel does. So please, become a Faith and Labor Picnic sponsor today! And Daniel says thanks to all of you who have already sponsored.

Sincerely,

WIN's executive director and Daniel's mom

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!

Make a gift to WIN during March and it will be doubled!

WIN members KC and Jeff Warren will double your gift to WIN during the month of March!

Gifts from members like you are WIN's number one source of support. Without your generosity, we can't stand up against wage theft or organize for living wages.

This month is an excellent time to make a gift to WIN, because your gift will be doubled! WIN members KC and Jeff Warren have agreed to double any gift you make in March.

The Warrens have agreed to match up to $4,000 in gifts during March. So far, our generous members have given $2,586. Can you  help us reach our goal of $4,000 with a gift?

If you join WIN's Allies for Justice monthly giving program, the Warrens will double all your monthly gifts for 2012! Monthly giving is convenient for you, because you don't have to remember to send in your gift.

Monthly giving also saves WIN's resources and stretches your gift farther. Less effort to ask for your gifts means WIN has more resources for workers facing injustice.

Make your gift securely online, or mail your donation to WIN, 3035 Directors Row, B - 1207, Memphis, TN 38131.

40 Hour Fast to Unite Reflection, Action Against Wage Theft



      You're invited to join the 40 Hour Fast: from Wage Theft to a Moral Economy. From Thursday, March 22nd at 7:00 p.m. until Saturday, March 24th at 11:00 a.m., workers, people of faith, and community members will join together in prayer, reflection, sacrifice, and action.

    The fast is being held because two out of three low-wage workers experience wage theft. Things don't have to be this way. We can build a moral economy that reflects God's justice for workers, where everyone who works shares in the fruits of their labor.

    I invite you to sign the pledge to join the 40 Hour Fast. There are a variety of ways you can participate in the fast, including:

• Going without solid food for as much of the 40 hour period as you can. This may mean fasting the entire time; fasting from sunset to sunrise; or fasting from one or more meals.
• Joining with others for an opening interfaith prayer vigil on March 22nd, and/or a closing meal on March 24th (see below for details).
• Reflecting and praying for workers who experience wage theft, and for employers who steal from them.
• Taking action against wage theft by calling Mis Pueblos Restaurant on Hacks Cross Rd., which currently owes a group of 5 workers over $31,000 in stolen wages. Call manager Guillermo Diaz at (901) 751-8896. Urge him to pay the $31,000 in wages he owes to his workers. Tell him you want to see the restaurant follow all minimum wage and overtime laws for their workers.

Interfaith Prayer Vigil to Open the Fast

Even if you're not physically able to fast, please join us in praying with workers who face wage theft.

Thursday, March 22nd at 7:00 p.m.

St. John's United Methodist Church

1207 Peabody Ave.

Featuring a reflection by Rabbi Aaron Rubinstein of Beth Sholom Synagogue

The vigil will be held in the chapel. Please enter the church through the green canopy entrance, off of the parking lot.

Simple Meal and Breaking of the Bread Service to Close the Fast

After a short service to close our fast, we will join together in a simple meal of soup and bread.

Saturday, March 24th at 11:00 a.m.

Collins Chapel CME Church

678 Washington Ave.

Sign the pledge to join the 40 hour fast, or download this flyer to learn more and spread the word.

Video: WIN director discusses living wage repeal on Fox 13

Workers Interfaith Network talks on Fox 13 about the state legislature's attempt to repeal your local living wage laws.

State Bill Could End Fair Wage Law: MyFoxMEMPHIS.com

Ready to take action? Sign the petition to the House State and Local Government Committee, urging members to vote no on the living wage repeal.

Your Workers' Center stops wage theft by working with workers, not for them

Your partnership with workers seeking justice: an insider's peek into WIN's Workers' Center

Delmar Vasquez appreciated that through the Workers' Center, "I got to be part of solving my problem."

     As WIN's Workers' Center takes on wage theft cases, we have two equally important goals: recovering wages, and building workers' power.

     In 2008, Delmar Vasquez contacted WIN's Workers' Center after a cleaning company refused to pay him for a month's worth of work. He soon learned that the Workers' Center would use labor laws to support his wage theft case. However, he would be much more involved in resolving his case than he would have been if he'd just contacted a lawyer.

    That's because one of the ideas that guides your Workers' Center is this: we're here to partner with workers in resolving their cases, not to do things for them.

 

    This means that when public actions such as vigils or pickets are planned, workers like Vasquez are expected to participate in them. While this new experience can be intimidating at first, workers often leave with a greater sense of the power they have to challenge injustice.

    Vasquez took part in a delegation to one of the businesses that he had cleaned while working for the cleaning contractor that owed him money. He also talked about his case at public forums on the crisis of wage theft. Now, he's become a member of the Steering Committee for WIN's Workers' Center. He frequently talks with other workers who face the same injustices he did, and he encourages them to speak out.

    Vasquez recovered the full $1,437 he was owed for his work. One of the things he appreciates most about his involvement in the Workers' Center goes beyond the wages he recovered. "I got to learn the facts more about my rights and how we can organize. I was not depending on someone else to solve my problem. At the Center, you get to be part of solving your problem," Vasquez says.

March 7th Lobby Day: Your Chance to Defend Workers' Rights

Legislators' decisions in Nashville will have major impact on workers throughout state

"There's just an energy in the air," Renee Dillard says of her experience at Lobby Day last year.



State Decisions, Local Impact

     What happens in Nashville does not stay in Nashville. Decisions made by state legislators can change the lives of workers in Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin, and all across the state.

    Just ask public school teachers who lost their right to collective bargaining last year. Or ask a low-wage worker at the University of Memphis who finally got her first pay raise in four years.

    That's why Workers Interfaith Network and the United Campus Workers union invite you to join forces in a statewide Lobby Day at the legislature on Wednesday, March 7th.

Your Chance to Be Courageous

     Before participating in Lobby Day last year, Rev. Renee Dillard says she hadn't been to the state capitol since a 7th grade field trip. "Lobbying was a little intimidating to think about," she says. "But the training I got ahead of time helped me know what to expect and how to talk about the issues. On Lobby Day, I met new people, and the exchanges we had with legislators were more positive than I thought they would be. It felt good to know I was doing my part to make a difference with workers."

What We're Asking Legislators to Do

      On Lobby Day, we'll be pressing our legislators on two main issues. The first is rejecting a dangerous and misguided bill that bans living wage ordinances in our state. If passed, Sen. Kelsey and Rep. Casada's bill will repeal large portions of the living wage laws that the City of Memphis and Shelby County passed years ago. The bills are just one example of conversative lawmakers who say they believe in local government control for one moment, then turn around and interfere in local affairs when they don't like something a city governmet does.

      The second focus of Lobby Day will be pressing legislators to pass a fair pay raise for employees at public colleges and universities across Tennessee. In his State of the State address, Gov. Haslam proposed a 2.5 percent pay raise for state workers. While this proposal is a good start, a percentage raise won't do much for workers who are paid poverty wages. For example, a typical custodian at the University of Memphis would get a $425 annual raise under the Governor's proposal, while the University President would get a $7,600 raise.

    At Lobby Day, you'll be pushing for a much more fair solution: a $1 per hour pay increase for all higher education employees. While top administrators don't need a huge bump in pay, ordinary workers will use this pay raise to meet urgent, basic needs for their families.

    During Lobby Day, we'll also rally on the capitol steps for good jobs and living wages at noon.

Sign up for March 7th Lobby Day

    Register for Lobby Day online or call Zach Ferguson at 901-332-3570 for more information. Once you have registered, we'll schedule lobbying appointments for you and arrange for your transportation. At this point, we know for sure we will have buses leaving from Memphis and Knoxville, and there will probably be caravans forming in other cities.

Schedule for Lobby Day

The Memphis bus will leave at 5:30 a.m. Central time and the Knoxville bus will leave at 7:00 a.m. Eastern time.

9:00 - 10:30   Training for lobbying teams

10:30 - noon   Visits to legislators in teams

Noon - 1:00    Rally on the capitol steps

1:00 - 3:00     Visits to legislators and/or lunch break

3:00                Return to home cities