Rhode Island’s cultural diversity is one of our great assets, but our communities often experience different opportunities to engage and enjoy. If we want our state to be more equitable, we require courageous leadership and intentional investments in racial and economic equity and access.

As organizations committed to racial justice, we feel the issue of race has been missing from the discussion about Kennedy Plaza. We all want to see vibrant community commons that support our economic and community development. But we recognize that strategies like increased policing will continue to disadvantage the poor, especially people of color, and siphon dollars away from social safety net programs that uplift those most marginalized.

New England communities were built with public “commons,” but despite their name these public spaces have always excluded the most disenfranchised: the indigenous people whose land was stolen, the enslaved Africans who quite literally built our communities, and those who did not fit society’s image of proper decorum. This continues today, with increase policing and criminalization of black and brown bodies, those exhibiting impact of addiction or mental illness, and the poor and homeless.

As our allies who are advocating for the homeless pointed out in their excellent “Reclaiming our Public Spaces” report, we cannot simply sweep away the poverty that many don’t want to see. Poverty and homelessness have disproportionate impact on communities of color, in large part because of public policies that exclude particular racial and ethnic groups from the supports that help build wealth and economic stability. Public policies fit together like bricks to shape our society, and our vision for racial justice requires some shifts in thinking. More people with criminal records, out of our workforce and warehoused at public cost, doesn’t help us build the society we envision.

Rather than seeking to invest our resources in short-sighted efforts to remove people we have deemed “undesirable,” let’s make real investments in the type of community supports and assets that eliminate the need for panhandling, support mental health and addiction recovery, and provide living wage jobs for everyone, including those with criminal records. Let’s engage our business community support in increased wages, publicly funded detox and recovery support, development of affordable housing, and compliance with First Source and Ban the Box laws. Let’s provide meaningful, well-paying work opportunities for adults with moderate education, and support public access to skilled training and higher education for our youth. Let’s recognize that amenities like public restrooms, drinking fountains, increased seating, and charging stations will support many types of users. And let’s bring love and compassion to the struggle of all those in our community, even those whose circumstances or behavior might make us uncomfortable.

Mike Araujo, Executive Director, Rhode Island Jobs with Justice

James Vincent, President, NAACP Providence Branch

Chanda Womack, President, Board of Directors, Cambodian Society of Rhode Island

On behalf of the Racial Justice Coalition.

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.

Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza tore past the twin protests taking place outside his exclusive fundraiser taking place at the Rooftop at the Providence G. On one side were members of Providence Fire Fighters IAFF Local 799, who are in the midst of difficult negotiations regarding overtime and staffing. On the other side were members of the STEP-UP Network, a coalition of community groups eager to pass the Community Safety Act (CSA), which candidate Elorza pledged to support in October, 2104.

Since his election, Elorza has avoided any substantive meetings with any groups about the CSA, and has not supported the bill’s  passage as he promised. This protest was, in the words of the STEP-UP Network, “to denounce the fundraiser for Mayor Jorge Elorza’s campaign as he has neglected and in some cases, refused to meet with groups representing low-income people of color on issues such as public safety, housing, and jobs.”

As a result of Elorza’s broken campaign promises and disinterest in meeting with community groups, the STEP-UP Network asks that instead of donating to Mayor Elorza’s campaign, funds be directed “to local organizations whose work directly impacts those affected by police violence, housing instability, and unemployment.”

Vanessa Flores-Maldonado, a PrYSM organizer, introduced three speakers outside, before the Mayor’s arrival.

Malchus Mills, volunteer for DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality), said in a statement, “A fundraiser for a mayor who refuses to meet with his constituents is absurd. We have been asking for a meeting for over a year now, but instead we keep getting passed off to police administrators. We still have not met with Mayor Elorza since the start of his administration, yet he falsely claims to have met with us on numerous occasions.”

Mike Araujo, Executive Director of Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, stated: “Not only have we been passed off to police administrators, but we have been given offers of only 15 to 30-minute-long meetings with the Mayor. How are we supposed to talk about the safety of an entire city in just 15 to 30 minutes?”

Jorrell Kaykay, volunteer at the Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), stated: “Last time we publicly asked Mayor Elorza about his changing stance on the CSA, he got this bill confused for a statewide bill. Clearly, Mayor Elorza is not paying attention to the issues that are affecting the community he serves especially when he keeps denying to adequately meet with said community. Whose mayor is he really?”

Kaykay spoke in reference to an East Side community forum that took place in November 2015 in which protestors had shown up as it was the second forum held in a neighborhood where crime rates were actually falling. When questioned about his stance on the CSA, Mayor Elorza responded on a different bill that had recently been passed in the General Assembly. I covered that event here.

The STEP UP Network includes the Providence Youth Student Movement, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, the American Friends Service Committee, and the Olneyville Neighborhood Association.

WHERE: RHODE ISLAND STATEHOUSE ROOM 201 LABOR COMMITTEE 

WHEN: THURSDAY FEBRUARY 25, AT 3:30PM.

WHY:   We need your SOLIDARITY, your PRESENCE, and YOUR VOICE in support of these two extremely worthy bills. 

Two bills will be heard on Thursday the 25th the first is House Bill 7465. Representative John Carnevale‘s bill will force employers who seek to get away with not paying time and a half on Sunday to make the appeal public and take the decision out of the hands of the Director of the Dept of Labor and Training. This bill will significantly improve the lives of RI’s workers and bring openness  and put hard earned money back in our Sisters and Brothers pockets.

Also being heard is House Bill 7505. Representative Thomas Palangio‘s bill seek to prohibit restaurant owners and managers from forcing servers from bearing  the cost of stolen food and drink. This bill will go a long way in enhancing the safety of the Women and Men who serve our food. Right now our servers often have to pay the price of lost food or breakage in a restaurant, this practice not only takes money put of their pockets it also puts the server in harms way when she is forced to be the management’s collection agent.

I am looking forward to seeing you there.

Moira Walsh announced her candidacy for State Representative in House District 3, including the Smith Hill, Charles and Wanskuck neighborhoods in Providence.

“I was born and raised in Smith Hill, and I love our neighborhood,” said Walsh, who in addition to being a longtime waitress in Providence also works as a community organizer with Rhode Island Jobs with Justice. “I’m running for State Representative because our district needs someone who will give everything she’s got, every day, to fight for our community. I know I have the energy, persistence, and passion to follow through on that commitment – because our community deserves it.”

Walsh cited her strong family roots in the district as pivotal in her decision to run for office. “My first job growing up was at The Earthen Vessel, my father Michael’s cornerstone on Smith Hill that offered everything from refrigerators to school uniforms at prices our neighbors could actually afford,” she said. “My mother, Janet, worked for the Diocese of Providence and taught CCD at local parishes for more than two decades. My parents – who still live on Violet Street – always fought tirelessly to support their kids and better their community, and they instilled those same values in me.”

A parent herself, Walsh says her experiences as a single mother gives her the right perspective to represent working families in the district. “As a single mother, I have experienced what so many struggling families in our community deal with on a daily basis,” she said. “I know what it means to choose between paying for gas or for electricity. To decide between buying groceries or getting clothing for my son. I understand what it feels like to work full time, to sign up for all the extra shifts you possibly can, and still fall short at the end of the month. People in our community are working eighty hours a week and spending no time with their families, just to keep their heads above water. It seems that no matter how hard we try, the system is rigged against us, and no one is fighting to preserve the community that has given us all so much. That is why I have worked to advocate for increases in the minimum wage, for protections for workers, and that’s why I’m running.”

Walsh’s candidacy was greeted with excitement across the district. Thomas Oliveira, who have lived in the area for many years, said, “I am so glad Moira is running for state representative. She understands the importance of supporting the community and local businesses, after all, her dad had one that meant a lot to the neighborhood. I know that she has the energy, honesty and commitment to make our neighborhood a better place.”

Janice Luongo, longtime community organizer and Smith Hill resident is also excited. “There is a lot of need in our community,” she said. “And we need someone like Moira who will listen and take action because many families are struggling.  Moira understands struggle, but she also knows how to bring people together to get things done. She has always lived in and loved this district, and I can’t think of anyone better to fight for the issues that matter to us at the State House.”

Walsh lives off of Douglas Avenue in the Wanskuck neighborhood of Providence with her 2 year-old son, Malcolm. She is an alum of Classical High School and Rhode Island College, a longtime server at a local Providence diner, and an organizer with RI Jobs with Justice.

[From a press release]

[Editor’s note: Walsh will be running against Rep Thomas A. Palangio (D) who was elected to 2012 and was re-elected in 2014.]

Workers declared victory today after Teriyaki House management finally gave into the pressure of direct action and paid their employees the money the US Department of Labor stipulated.

Teriyaki House workers and their supporters once again protested outside the restaurant in Downtown Providence during lunch to demand that the restaurant pay its employees thousands of dollars in unpaid wages. During the last protest, just before Christmas, Teriyaki House management and lawyers agreed to pay Fidel de Leon, Emilio Garcia, Vicente Lobos and Pedro Gomez their back wages (and damages) as stipulated by the US Department of Labor, by January 22.

As the workers and supporter, organized by Fuerza Laboral and RI Jobs with Justice (JWJ) marched in front of the restaurant on Friday, dissuading customers from eating at the restaurant, the manager of Teriyaki House came out and discussed surrender terms with JWJ executive director Michael Araujo. After Araujo spoke with Teriyaki House’s lawyer on the phone, the restaurant manager headed directly to the US Department of Labor offices downtown and paid.

Minutes later, the unpaid employees, who had been fighting for what they have been owed for years, emerged holding checks. It was a surprising and joyous end to a long and difficult battle for fair pay.

• Workers claim unpaid wages at Teriyaki House rally
• Teriyaki House ruining Christmas for unpaid employees

This was the fourth demonstration at Teriyaki House over this issue. For years workers were not being paid minimum wage or overtime for 70-85 hour work weeks. You can see the demonstration and its successful conclusion in the first video below. In the second video, Heiny Maldonado of Fuerza Laboral talks about the power and necessity of direct action against a system that does not empower workers against their employers. Keally Cieslik provided the English translation in both videos.

Workers, alongside allies and organizers from Fuerza Laboral and RI Jobs with Justice marched into Teriyaki House restaurant in Providence yesterday afternoon claiming unpaid wages and poor treatment from the owners. Workers say owners of the restaurant failed to pay minimum wage or overtime for over 70 hours of work a week. In addition, say organizers, “workers have been verbally harassed and physically abused. They’ve been called lazy and have been repeatedly intimidated by management.”

Teriyaki House has been under investigation by the US Department of Labor since workers filed their complaint, says Jobs with Justice.

This is the second wage action against Teriyaki House. Workers previously entered the restaurant in August demanding their wages, where management reportedly refused to pay and called the workers “lazy.”

Yesterday a much larger group of workers and supporters entered the store, chanting and shutting down the business until the police arrived and ordered the crowd to leave. Outside, the rally continued as a picket, as people held signs, chanted, sang songs and told their stories. Fuerza Labroal organizer Phoebe Gardner said that the Department of Labor should be done with their investigation by March, and if the wages continue to be unpaid, they would return for more actions against the restaurant.

The most fun part of the action was the impromptu singing that erupted, demonstrating both a rising solidarity and strength among this growing and powerful food chain worker labor movement in Rhode Island.

According to Fuerza, “Teriyaki House workers have been joining with other food chain workers in Rhode Island, like the Wendy’s workers who went on strike, ROC, and workers from Calise industrial bakery, to form the new coalition [called] Food Chain Workers RIsing. Our hope is to bring together the struggles of workers along the food chain in Rhode Island with real worker leadership.”

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.

It was the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid. The location, near Slater Park, is around the corner from two healthcare providers, ARC of Blackstone Valley, which provides services to adults with developmental disabilities and the Pawtucket Center, a Genesis Heath Care skilled nursing facility.

The rally was also just two miles from the Massachusetts border, where home care workers recently won a minimum wage of $15 to be phased in over the next few years. Rhode Island does not pay nearly as much.

SEIU 1199, representing the healthcare workers, released figures showing that at Pawtucket Skilled Nursing & Rehab, the starting rate is $11.75. 63 percent of workers make less than $15. At ARC of Blackstone Valley many direct care staffers earn $10.75 and 94 percent earn less than $15. Meanwhile, two miles up the street, a caregiver could find a job paying $15.

I spoke with two women whose adult, disabled children are cared for at ARC of Blackstone Valley. Both attested to the excellent care their families receive and to the need for paying better wages. The caregivers at ARC are like family, said Pat, whose daughter Rachel has many special care requirements.

Two women who work as personal care attendants in Massachusetts also addressed the rally. Deborah Hahn said, “…if Massachusetts PCAs can win $15, if New York fast food workers can win $15, you can too.”

This event is seen as part of the “expanding #fightfor15 movement” which has been defying expectations and scoring significant wins in recent weeks. The healthcare workers were joined at the rally by a host of labor and community groups, including the AFL-CIO, Unite Here! 217, Jobs with Justice, Fuerza Laboral, NEARI, Teamsters 251, UNAP, UFCW 328, and the RI Progressive Democrats.  State Representatives David Bennett, Mary Duffy Messier and Scott Slater were also on hand.

“We want Mr. Cho to respond to us and pay us what he owes,” said Roberto Quinilla, a former employee of Gourmet Heaven who is seeking over $32,000 in unpaid wages. “A group of us went to Mr. Cho’s house this weekend to try to track him down, and demand what he owes us, because we’ve been waiting too long, and we need an answer now.”

Cho has denied all charges, according to the organizers of the press conference, despite being found guilty in Connecticut of 43 charges of employment law violations, and being ordered to pay roughly $150,000 in a settlement with workers at stores in New Haven, CT, now closed.

Mike Araujo, Policy Organizer with the ROC RI, and co-chair of RI Jobs With Justice, said, “We must pass stronger penalties for employers who steal workers’ wages, and raise the tipped minimum wage—a mere $2.89—so workers don’t have to make ends meat by kowtowing to the whims of the customers whose tips pay the vast majority of their salary.”

In a statement, Senator Donna Nesslebush said, “Workers are the engine and backbone of our economy, our families and our society. We need to treat them well which means we must rout out wage theft wherever we see it, wherever we find it. Too often, workers are abused in the shadows of industry for the greed and aggrandizement of unscrupulous employers/owners. We need to shine the light of day on these shadows by strengthening our laws to better protect and honor workers, and this means increasing the penalties for wage theft and increasing the minimum wage.”

Jesse Strecker of RI Jobs With Justice said that he did not expect anything to be decided in court today, as proceedings were just beginning, but he was optimistic that the case would be decided in the worker’s favor.