NEWS & LETTERS, July-August 2010
All work and no pay
Detroit -- A man from the soup kitchen called Centro Obrero for help getting his paycheck. He said that the company pays only one week for three weeks' pay.
Most of the calls we get are in Spanish from people who worked for similar employers and do not get paid, or get injured or get charged for breaking equipment, or just get disrespected and want some relief. Most know that they have few rights that employers are bound to respect, but they know they are human beings, children of God who are entitled to decent treatment.
This is what so many people are looking for now -- not benefits, not full time work, not vacations, just the meager hourly rate of pay for the hours they worked. Sometimes we cannot recognize the Promised Land because so much has been lost.
But what has not been lost is the human desire for equity. Even people who have never experienced it seek it. It is a myth on one level, but is what gives many of us the reason to get up in the morning and the anger to fight exploitation and the ability to get another job and hope that this one will pay what it's supposed to pay. Another man called and told me that he works for a food processor. They process pickles and beets and get paid, allegedly, $7.50 per hour, the legal minimum wage. No overtime was paid, although the crew worked many hours of overtime. The man takes a bus from the soup kitchen on Michigan and Trumbull at Manna Meals to Chesterfield Township, does his work and comes back to Detroit. The other people he works with have not gotten paid either.
This is one of hundreds of employers who exploit the most vulnerable workers: the homeless, who would likely not be homeless if they got their pay, and undocumented people who have no rights under the law except to make someone else rich. Never a dull moment in the Promised Land.
When I called the employer, I was told that there was no money owed to anyone and that they have never had a wage claim filed against them. But then his employer called me back and told me that he would be paid tomorrow.
--Elena
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