Wage theft

A big story in Seattle concerns a popular Cuban sandwich place, Paseos.  One of those places with no sign, a limited menu and tons of customers.  We have gone to Paseo's.  There's hardly any place to sit and their sandwiches are the messiest but yummy.  Once with Melina, we stopped at Paseos on a riainy day.  I had bought a bunch of towels with us and we all ate our sandwiches in the car with towels on our laps.  Because it's that messy.

But suddenly, a few days ago, Paseos closed up.  Filed bankruptcy.  A suit has been filed claiming wage theft.  Not paid overtime.

Wage theft, a new phrase whose time has come.  Not only are the working class squeezed but often they're not paid at all.  What about the 'tipped wage' in Tennessee of $2.15/hr and sometimes my sister in law didn't even get that.  With less regulation, more opportunities to cut your costs by not paying your employees for work done.  Often, as the paper pointed out, wage theft often targets the most vulnerable worker.

But that happens to other people, right?

Not so fast, I was victimized by some wage theft in my last job.  Though nobody would have admitted to that.  And when a company hires women with children to work at home, they're afraid to say anything because they'll lose their work.  For a long time, I was paid as a 'contractor' and had to pay my side of social security.  Somebody (I don't know who) contacted the Department of Labor which started a whole investigation.  Crazy.  My company told me to tell the truth, I'll give them that.  But it was wacky and I never knew what side I was on.  Eventually they determined that I was an employee but the company negotiated a deal without my participation nor approval with a third party where I would be paid by the third party.  Yes, I was now eligible for unemployment and other benefits and the company paid the social security but they docked MY pay (meager as it was) for those costs as well as the costs for the third party.  I did not get my back social security.  I was told strictly to only work 40 hours or rather only report 40 hours.  Again, they did not pressure me to work more than that.

But I had no voice.  Myself and a few other workers consulted with a labor attorney.  I think they felt sorry for us because we were so screwed.  They never even charged us.

I looked into organizing but there were so many barriers, it really was not possible.  The third party employer thing, the unusual working conditions, people in multiple states, no union to represent you.  But most of all, the co-workers that I talked to in confidence were too scared.  They would not take the risk of trying to organize, the recession was on, husband had lost jobs, underwater on their houses.  They had to keep their job.  I did not have the votes.

Wage theft, it's all around you.