"I love this Union cause. I hold it more dear than I do my family or my life. I am willing to devote to it all that I am or have or hope for in this world."
Hundreds of workers who prepare and serve meals for Capitol Hill lawmakers and their staffs in the U.S. Senate cafeterias will receive more than $1 million in back wages after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found their employers failed to pay prevailing wages required of federal contractors. The department’s Wage and Hour Division announced yesterday that Restaurant Associates and its subcontractor, Personnel Plus, will pay 674 workers $1,008,302 in back wages. “This shows that when workers act, workers can win,” said Joseph Geevarghese, Director of Good Jobs Nation, which has been organizing the workers. But Geevarghese warned that “criminal activity at the U.S. Capitol is just the tip of the iceberg,” noting that “If federal contractors feel free to break federal law right under the noses of lawmakers, they probably feel free to violate the rights of workers all across America.” The Model Employer Executive Order, was just added to the Democratic Platform for the first time, would enable the President to “allow workers to organize and empower them to hold their bosses accountable to following the law,” Geevarghese said. Read more below... photo: Senator Harry Reid meets with senate workers in November 2015; photo courtesy Good Jobs Nation Twitter feed Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett has asked Council President Nancy Floreen to postpone consideration of her proposal to give more power to county officials in their dealings with labor unions. Read Bill Turque's report in The Washington Post.
A young Fredericksburg mother and union member is facing deportation back to the abuse that she fled 14 years ago. Wendy Soveida Uruchi Contreras (at right), a Washington-Baltimore News Guild (WBNG) member who works at CASA de Maryland, is in deportation proceedings after being picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently. She fled Spain in 2002 after enduring years of abuse from her alcoholic stepfather. She's now married and has two young children born here in the United States. CASA is leading a campaign on Contreras' behalf, reaching out to organizations and institutions she has worked with for letters of support and on Sunday WBNG sent a letter of support to the Department of Homeland Security. "Wendy has been a model employee at CASA fighting for the benefits of all people," wrote Guild Executive Director Cet Parks, "Wendy is a huge contributor to our American community." Metro Council Executive Director Carlos Jimenez has also sent a letter of support and nearly 500 people have already signed a petition supporting Contreras. |