7 things you can do to help pass the Shelby County wage theft ordinance

Two out of three low-wage workers are affected by wage theft. It's time for a local wage theft law!

     People all across Shelby County are sending our County Commissioners a clear message: all workers should be paid for their work. And when you aren't paid, you should have an easy way to recover your stolen wages.

     That's why we're calling on the Shelby County Commission to pass a local wage theft ordinance. They'll only pass the law if enough of us press them to do so. I hope you'll join other workers, people of faith, students, and activists in our campaign to stop wage theft.

Here are 7 things you can do to help get the wage theft ordinance passed:

1) Learn more about what wage theft is and why the local wage theft ordinance is needed. Want the quick version? Download our one page summary of the wage theft ordinance. Want to go more in-depth? Read our report "The Epidemic of Wage Theft in Shelby County." It has stories of workers like Cynthia Marquez, who took a waitressing job to put herself through college and was only paid in customer tips.

2) Sign the electronic petition to County Commissioners, calling on them to support the ordinance, and meet with members of the Stop Wage Theft Coalition to talk about the proposed law.

3) Collect petition signatures on our printed petitions from your friends, co-workers, members of your congregation or union, or your neighbors. We'll deliver these to Commissioners at a rally in September. Contact Kyle Kordsmeier to get petition forms.

4) Invite a WIN staff member to come speak about the wage theft campaign to your group. This is our most powerful way to spread the word about the campaign! We'll speak to Sunday School classes, Bible studies and women's groups; student organizations; union meetings; neighborhood associations; political organizations, and more. We can do something short or a longer (30 minutes or so) presentation. If you'd like a speaker, let Kyle Kordsmeier know.

5) Ask your congregation, union, community group, or business to endorse the wage theft campaign. Again, Kyle Kordsmeier can give you endorsement forms or additional info about this.

6) Of course, it also takes money to run this campaign. Become a sponsor of our Faith and Labor Picnic to help raise the funds needed to pass the wage theft ordinance.

7) Sign up to be a volunteer with Workers Interfaith Network. We need folks to do everything from being part of lobbying delegations to calling our members about actions they can take. Fill out our volunteer form here, and under the "special skills I'd like to share" be sure to indicate you'd like to help with the wage theft ordinance campaign.

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.