Nearly two dozen workers who were owed tens of thousands of dollars finally got their wages after they quit, organized and fought back. Last fall, the workers were hired by Genesis, a local sub-contractor, to help build three large high rises in Northeast DC. While work proceeded on the mixed-use development, wages became a problem, as workers received partial payments or had paychecks bounce and eventually Genesis stopped paying wages entirely.
The workers turned to Trabajadores Unidos de Washington DC, and the local advocacy group used DC’s Wage Theft Prevention Act to collect more than $46,000 dollars in back pay. Trabajadores Unidos Executive Director Arturo Griffiths says that “This case is an important lesson for all DC workers, showing how important it is for contractors and workers to understand the new law.” On today’s labor calendar, catch “Your Rights at Work” at 1pm here on WPFW as our guests include Cecelie Counts on Why the Federal Courts Matter to Workers and Steve Early on Remaking An American City. Plus listener calls on rights on the job. Here’s today's labor history: On this date in 1695, in what could be considered the first workers’ compensation agreement in America, pirate Henry Morgan pledged his underlings 600 pieces of eight or six slaves to compensate for a lost arm or leg. Also part of the pirate’s code, according to the late Roger Newell: shares of the booty were equal regardless of race or sex, and shipboard decisions were made collectively. Today’s the birthday of Samuel Gompers, first president of the American Federation of Labor. Gompers was born in London, England and emigrated to the U.S. as a youth. Today’s labor quote is by Sam Gompers, who said: “Show me the country in which there are no strikes and I’ll show you that country in which there is no liberty.”
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