Flor Salazar – RI Future

June 23, 2016June 24, 2016

Significant protections against wage theft passed

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

After years of struggle the Rhode Island General Assembly under the leadership of Senator Donna Nesslebush, and Representative Joe Shekarchi have passed a bill that finally makes the scourge of wage theft a crime. Stealing workers’ wages has always been civil offense with serious hurdles from the bureaucracies that were supposed to help. With close consultation with the DLT and Director Scott Jensen and legislative stakeholder meetings, House Bill 7628 and Senate Bill 2475 passed in the small morning hours on Saturday June 18.

These bills will provide for serious penalties including fines and imprisonment for taking from working Rhode Islanders. Perhaps the most significant penalty is the loss of a business license, the bills also empower the director of the Department of Labor and Training to determine compliance. Encouraging responsible reporting and discouraging false claims, the process of private suit has meaningful safeguards in place.

“Too often we see workers awarded a judgment by DLT only to have the employer refuse to pay what is owed,” said Robert McCreanor executive director of the worker advocacy law firm The Rhode Island Center for Justice. With the power to revoke business licenses from offending employers who refuse to comply with its rulings, DLT will be able to compel prompt payment and get more money, more efficiently, into the hands of the worker who earned it. While more work needs to be done to address the growing problem of wage theft, this bill provides an important tool for Rhode Island workers.”

Said Lidia Jimenez a member of Fuerza Laboral, “As a worker that has had their wages stolen, I feel proud that my testimony and that of Flor Salazar helped elected officials understand the atrocities that are committed daily by bad employers who feel that justice will not reach them and take our daily bread. This will help put an end to some of the abuse.” It is estimated by Economic Progress Institute that over $50,000,000,000 per year are stolen from workers’ wages. The process of enforcement historically has been spotty and difficult to apply.

Jeremy Rix who is running for 2nd ward of the Warwick City Council said, “I’m thrilled that the wage theft reforms introduced by Rep. Shekarchi become law. This law will deter many unethical employers from stealing wages, and provide a meaningful path for vulnerable employees to recover their stolen earnings.”

The organizations that have participated in the effort to pass these two vital bills are: Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, The RIAFL-CIO, Fuerza Laboral, and the Rhode Island Center for Justice. Each of these organizations is committed to improving the conditions of Rhode Island’s working people.

November 10, 2015October 22, 2016

Fast food workers rally for $15 and a union at Wendy’s in Warwick

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Fast food employees, restaurant workers and labor allies rallied outside the Wendy’s restaurant at 771 Warwick Ave in Warwick around noon as part of a national effort to kick off a year-long $15 minimum wage campaign ahead of next year’s presidential elections. Nearly 100 people gathered in the parking lot of Wendy’s, where the management had locked the doors ahead of the protests and only served meals through the drive-thru window.

Led by outgoing Rhode-Island Jobs with Justice executive director Jesse Strecker, workers chanted and marched around the building, finally settling in front for a series of speeches from various workers and advocates “all the way down the food chain.”

Long time Wendy’s worker and minimum wage advocate Jo-Ann Gesterling spoke not only about fair wages, but about wages stolen when management forces workers to work through their breaks, lack of accountability in the management structure, and other issues fast food workers deal with on a daily basis.

Demonstrators were not only demanding $15 an hour, fair treatment and a union, they were also demanding that Wendy’s join the the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program (FFP). Attentive readers will remember that the Brown Student Labor Alliance lead a protest in October around the FFP, described as a “ground-breaking model for worker-led social responsibility based on a unique collaboration among farmworkers, Florida tomato growers and 14 participating buyers.” It is “the first comprehensive, verifiable and sustainable approach to ensuring better wages and working conditions in America’s agricultural fields.”

Emelio Garcia, a former employee of Teriyaki House Restaurant in downtown Providence spoke about not having been paid for work he did at the restaurant. Wage theft is a story sadly common in Rhode Island, as more and more employees stand up and demand the wages that have been stolen from them by employers. Garcia says that he was docked for two hours of pay a day for breaks he was never actually allowed to take.

Flor Salazar, who worked at Café Atlantic and was owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages, was allegedly assaulted by owner Juan Noboa with a baseball bat when she and a group of workers confronted Noboa at his home Halloween morning. “We are tired of having our work stolen, we are tired of being disrespected in our workplace,” said Salazar, “It’s enough.”

The final speaker was a not a restaurant worker but Magdalene Smith, a CNA working at a Pawtucket nursing home. “This is not a fight for just restaurants, but for everybody,” said Smith. “Everybody deserves $15. We work hard.”

In addition to Jobs With Justice and the Brown Student/Labor Alliance the event was sponsored by 1199 SEIU Rhode Island, Fuerza Laboral/Power of Workers and Restaurant Opportunities Center of Rhode Island.

October 31, 2015November 1, 2015

Violence at early morning wage theft demonstration

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

An early morning “trick-or-treat” themed anti-wage theft action at 23 Julian St. in Providence, the home of Juan Noboa, was met with violence Saturday morning as Noboa allegedly assaulted one of his former workers with a baseball bat. About two dozen demonstrators arrived at Noboa’s door at 5:30 am, wearing costumes and carrying signs, there to demand that Noboa pay his former employees the $3,691.35 the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training deemed to be owed on June 30th, a small fraction of the $17,427.00 in unpaid wages that workers claim to be owed.

To date, Noboa and his partner, Jose Bren, have not paid, necessitating Saturday morning’s action. Instead of paying, Noboa came out swinging with a baseball bat.

According to Fuerza Laboral community organizer Phoebe Gardener,

In our early morning wage theft action today, former Café Atlantic restaurant owner Juan Noboa physically assaulted one of the worker leaders, Flor Salazar, with a bat, hitting her three times in the arm and shoulder but aiming for her head. Flor was there with two other workers who Juan Noboa and business partner Jose Bren owe over $17,000 in stolen wages to. Café Atlantic workers have been organizing for 10 months for their wages, including a previous action at Juan Noboa’s house back in January.

“On June 30th, the RI Department of Labor issued an official order for Juan Noboa and business partner Jose Bren to pay just below $4,000 (only a fraction of the money claimed in their original complaints) to 4 of the 6 workers who filed complaints. It’s been 4 months, and Noboa and Bren still haven’t paid. Workers had no other option then to use community pressure to force Noboa to pay, and Noboa responds by assaulting workers.”

Flor Salazar was taken to the hospital where she was released after determining that she had no broken bones but two or three contusions.

2015-10-31 Fuerza Laboral 003 — photo courtesy of Fuerza Laboral

When Providence Police arrived just after 6:30am, Noboa answered the door, according to Providence in Espanol, “screaming about the protesters. Noboa then tried to run, and the police chased him in his home, authorities said… After the altercation, an officer [was] transported by a rescue vehicle fire department at Rhode Island Hospital with a possible broken foot.”

This was the second time workers demonstrated outside the home of Juan Noboa over this issue. Back in January workers went to Noboa’s home, and days later Noboa, through his lawyer, denied owing any money.

In a statement prepared before the action and before she was assaulted, Flor Salazar, who worked between 60 and 70 hours a week at Café Atlantic between August 1st and September 28th of 2014, said, “The DLT decision requires Café Atlantic to pay just a percentage of the total wages we are due, but we thought that Noboa and Bren would at least pay up now with an official order from the state. Workers won’t come forward if they feel that the DLT doesn’t have the tools to actually recover their wages. This isn’t just about our wages. This is about bringing justice for working families and single mothers.”

Wage theft is endemic in the restaurant industry in Rhode Island, yet there is very little recourse available to workers wanting to collect stolen wages. If an employee steals from their employer, they can face arrest and serious legal consequences. If an employer steals from an employee, there is little chance that they will suffer any serious legal consequences.

2015-10-31 Fuerza Laboral 001 — photo courtesy of Fuerza Laboral

2015-10-31 Fuerza Laboral 004 — photo courtesy of Fuerza Laboral

2015-10-31 Fuerza Laboral 005 — photo courtesy of Fuerza Laboral

2015-10-31 Fuerza Laboral 006 — photo courtesy of Fuerza Laboral

January 15, 2015August 9, 2016

Workers protest ex-boss’s home at dawn; demand $17,000 in unpaid wages

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

About 40 people showed up before sunrise at Juan Noboa’s 23 Julian St. residence in the Olneyville section of Providence this morning to demand the payment of over $17,000 in back wages to six employees.

According to organizers, Noboa and his partner, Jose Bren, employed around 15 workers to help open Café Atlantic, a restaurant located at 1366 Chalkstone Ave. between August and September, 2014. Some employees worked up to 70 hours a week, but, according to organizers, “by September 28th, Noboa and Bren closed the restaurant just months after opening and walked away without paying workers their full wages.”

The workers have organized through Fuerza Laboral (Power of Workers) “a community organization that builds worker leadership to fight workplace exploitation.” They have filed complaints with the Rhode Island Department of Labor and have attempted many times to contact the owners with their concerns, but have received no response.

Juan Noboa was a volunteer for Buddy Cianci during his unsuccessful run for mayor last election. During the election Noboa reported Representative Scott Slater to the state police for possible voter fraud after taking video showing Slater, “leaving Kilmartin Plaza, a Providence high-rise for the elderly, with what looked like a ballot.” The police investigated and cleared Slater of any wrongdoing. Slater issued a statement saying that he recognized the man filming him “as someone who had threatened him in the past.”

According to the Providence Journal, Noboa “is a convicted felon and has been arrested 10 times dating back to March 2000.”

This morning’s action follows last month’s protest outside Gourmet Heaven on Westminster St. downtown. “We see a pattern of Providence-based food establishments intentionally cheating workers of their wages,” said Phoebe Gardener, Community Organizer with Fuerza Laboral.

“It makes me so angry that I am doing everything I can to provide for my family and do my job the best I can and Noboa doesn’t care about anything but making money for himself,” said Flor Salazar, former employee of Café Atlantic in a written statement, “Some of us are single mothers and are barely getting by.”

After chanting in Noboa’s driveway and pounding on his door for about fifteen minutes, the Providence police arrived and moved the protesters onto the sidewalk and into the street. Protesters handed out fliers to neighbors accusing Noboa of theft.

Noboa never came to the door or showed his face in the window.