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Kicking off a new regular feature on Belabored, Josh and Sarah provide a detailed explainer on wage theft. What is it, why and how do bosses get away with it, and how do we stop it? Explainers will be a part of the show going forward, so send us your questions, suggestions, and terms you’d like to hear defined. Hashtag, as always, #belabored.
They also discuss the uprisings in Turkey and the role of labor unions, international actions targeting McDonald’s, the ongoing conflict at Palermo’s Pizza, and an independent organizing campaign at an upscale New York deli.
Will Corporations Win More Exploitable Workers?
The Huffington Post – Op-Ed
Saket Soni
June 11, 2013
If the business lobby has its way, immigration reform will bring one group of immigrant workers out of the shadows while trapping another in exploitation.
Corporations have fought hard to make sure immigration reform includes as many guestworkers as possible with as few labor protections as possible: an endless stream of cheap, exploitable labor.
In an op-ed in Roll Call this Monday, NGA Legal and Policy Director J.J. Rosenbaum explains how the current Senate bill puts future immigrant workers at risk:
The current Senate bill would provide one small category of guestworkers–those on the proposed W visa–whistleblower protections and the ability to change employers without losing legal status. But the bill risks leaving hundreds of thousands of guestworkers subject to captive labor. And lobbyists are pushing to make sure that there are as many of those guestworkers as possible.
Over the past week, guestworker recruiters have raced to Capitol Hill to argue that key worker protections shouldn’t apply to the J-1 student guestworker program. In fact, the J-1 program has been the site of some of the most egregious cases of guestworker abuse.
Last week, I introduced you to KahInn Lee, a J-1 student guestworker from Malaysia who helped expose one of them. KahInn paid $3,000 to participate in the J-1 program, then found herself working at a McDonald’s in Central Pennsylvania, facing sub-minimum wage pay, shifts of up to 25 hours with no overtime pay, and threats of firing and deportation to suppress complaints.
Thousands of guestworkers across visa categories face this kind of exploitation. Jorge Rios, another McDonald’s student guestworker, told journalists this week: “In our case we depended on these jobs only for three months, but there are many people who depend on these jobs for their whole life.”
Even without whistleblower protections, KahInn and her fellow student guestworkers were brave enough to join the NGA and took action. They went from a strike in the streets of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to the halls of Capitol Hill to the front door of the McDonald’s CEO. Last week they took their fight worldwide, helping organize a Global Day of Actionagainst McDonald’s abuse of guestworkers in more than 30 countries.
Members of Congress are finally taking notice. Senator Bernie Sanders told his colleagueslast week: “I fear very much that this J-1 program is being exploited by corporations like Hershey’s and McDonald’s as an effort to simply bring students from abroad to work at low-paying jobs in the United States.”
So what can the Senate do today to protect tomorrow’s guestworkers from captive labor? How can it protect the tens of millions of U.S. workers alongside them in the same sectors from being trapped in a race to the bottom? J.J. explains:
Severe exploitation of guestworkers has become commonplace across visa categories. As the Senate makes the final changes to its immigration bill … it needs to include strong worker protections for all guestworkers, regardless of visa program or industry. That includes whistleblower protections for workers who come forward to expose employer abuse, the ability for guestworkers to change employers without losing legal status, and rules that prevent recruiters from profiting from exploitation.
Please tell Congress that immigration reform needs to protect guestworkers–for their sake, and for the future of the U.S. workers alongside them.
As the Senate votes this week on amendments to the immigration bill drafted by the “gang of eight,” it needs to make sure that it doesn’t bring one group of immigrant workers out of the shadows while trapping another in captive labor.
Hundreds of guestworkers have emerged from labor camps across America in recent years to expose severe labor abuse in federal temporary worker programs. From food processing to construction, from the Wal-Mart seafood supply chain to the Hershey’s Chocolate packing plant, guestworkers have revealed how employers and their recruiters abuse guestworker programs as a source of cheap, exploitable labor. When they do, they also drive down wages and conditions for tens of millions of U.S. workers who work alongside guestworkers.
Americans understand this connection, which is why they overwhelmingly support including guestworker protections in immigration reform. In a recent national poll by the CAMBIO coalition, 75 percent agreed that “if employers are allowed to get away with mistreating immigrant workers, it ends up lowering wages and hurting conditions for American workers as well.” Eighty perfect agreed that “immigrant workers who blow the whistle on abusive employers are helping defend workplace standards and should have the opportunity to stay in the U.S. to work towards citizenship.”
The current Senate bill would provide one small category of guestworkers — those on the proposed W visa — whistle-blower protections and the ability to change employers without losing legal status. But the bill risks leaving hundreds of thousands of guestworkers subject to captive labor. And lobbyists are pushing to make sure that there are as many of those guestworkers as possible.
Over the past week, guestworker recruiters have raced to Capitol Hill to argue that key worker protections shouldn’t apply to the J-1 student guestworker program. In fact, the J-1 program has been the site of some of the most egregious cases of guestworker abuse.
In August 2011, hundreds of J-1 student guestworkers from around the world joined the National Guestworker Alliance and went on strike from a Hershey’s Chocolate packing plant in Pennsylvania. They had been recruited from universities around the world, and had paid $3,000-6,000 apiece for promises of a cultural exchange and dignified work. Instead found themselves packing chocolates for Hershey’s under brutal conditions, living in squalid, overpriced housing and facing threats of retaliatory firing and deportation from recruiters and supervisors.
The State Department ultimately barred Hershey’s labor recruiter CETUSA from the J-1 Summer Work Travel program. But there were other unscrupulous recruiters ready to take its place — and other major American corporations ready to profit from exploitation.
In March, just blocks from where the Hershey’s student guestworkers had been housed, J-1 student guestworkers went on strike from three McDonald’s restaurants in Central Pennsylvania. They too had faced brutal work conditions — including shifts of up to 25 hours straight with no overtime pay — as well as wage theft, inadequate housing and threats of deportation when they raised concerns.
These stories of guestworker abuse reached the pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. They reached guestworkers’ home countries, 30 of which hosted a global day of protest on June 6 against the abuse of guestworkers at McDonald’s.
“Unfortunately, McDonald’s has continued to claim that they treat their workers with dignity and respect, and there’s a lot of opportunity, when in fact most of these workers have no benefits, they’re earning the minimum wage, they have no sick leave,” he said.
Cet établissement a été choisi, parce que il s’agit du premier restaurant de Mc Donald’s ouvert en Belgique. Une journée mondiale d’action se déroule aujourd’hui dans les restaurants de Mc Donald’s dans plus de 30 pays aux quatre coins du monde.
Protests Begin in 30+ Countries to Target McDonald’s Labor Abuse
Student guestworker fight from U.S. becomes global campaign against labor abuse, for freedom of association
WHAT: Global day of action in 30+ countries against McDonald’s labor abuse
WHO: National Guestworker Alliance members, current and former McDonald’s workers, global unions, and community members
WHERE: McDonald’s restaurants in the U.S., Belgium, Brazil, China, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Philippines, Slovakia, Thailand, Uruguay, and more (see notlovinit.com for details)
NEW YORK, NY—A Global Day of Action against McDonald’s labor abuse began on June 6 with protests in Indonesia, India, and Belgium – three of more than 30 countries holding actions over the course of the day.
Workers, international unions, and community members are demanding that McDonald’s take responsibility for ending the abuse of international contract workers at its restaurants, and guarantee all its workers the freedom to organize without threats or retaliation at all 34,000 McDonald’s restaurants worldwide.
The actions mark the three-month anniversary of a historic strike by McDonald’s student guestworkers in the U.S. against labor abuse.
Joining the National Guestworker Alliance (NGA) in organizing the actions are members of national and global unions, students, and human rights organizations including IUF affiliates around the globe, Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (ProDESC) in Mexico, Ver.di in Germany, New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) in India, and affiliates of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
The March 2013 exposé of McDonald’s labor abuse against student guestworkers in the U.S. created an international media firestorm, from the Wall Street Journal to Argentina’s Misiones.
The students’ strike forced McDonald’s to cut ties with the franchisee where the students worked, but McDonald’s refused to meet with the students about ending labor abuse—even when they delivered 100,000 petitions to the CEO’s doorstep. They and their allies will demand that McDonald’s put an end abuse of international contract labor by signing an agreement with the guestworkers in its restaurants, and guarantee freedom of association for all its workers worldwide.
Cases of labor abuse at McDonald’s show the fast food giant’s failure to set even the most basic labor standards for any of the 1.8 million workers at its 34,000 restaurants around the world. McDonald’s sets standards for its franchise owners on trivial aspects of food presentation—while having no standards to protect the workers who generate $27.6 billion in annual revenue for the corporation.
“McDonald’s used a global labor supply chain to source cheap, exploitable workers from around the world and hold down wages and conditions for U.S. workers,” said Saket Soni, executive director of the NGA. “Now workers have built a global movement to challenge McDonald’s abuse and demand the right to organize against abuse.”
