Big win for labor in Chicago

[Teamster Jeff]

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Friday, Jan 18, 2013
By a unanimous vote on Thursday, Chicago’s City Council passed one of the strongest “wage theft” laws in the United States. The move was hailed by labor activists, who’ve long complained that wage theft — not paying workers what they’re legally owed — is one of the easiest crimes to get away with.

“Now the bosses are going to know that the workers have rights, too,” said Maria Garcia, a member of the labor group Arise Chicago, which spearheaded the campaign to pass the law. Interviewed in Spanish, Garcia said she’d experienced wage theft at both of the past two restaurants where she’d worked.

“Wage theft” encompasses a range of offenses. Garcia said that in her case, it had included unpaid overtime and hourly rates below the minimum wage. The term was popularized by labor activists seeking to stir moral outrage at the all-too common issue: “Wage theft” suggests that refusing to pay wages that workers have earned is a form of robbery, rather than a mere accounting dispute.
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Under Chicago’s new law, companies convicted of wage theft could have their business licenses revoked. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, no close pal of labor, signed on as a sponsor and has pledged to sign it.
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http://www.salon.com/2013/01/18/big_win_for_labor_in_chicago/

[Laelth]

1. k&r for labor. This is good news. n/t

-Laelth

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Wage theft is much bigger than what most people think.

Way to go Chi Town,you are ringing the bell. Can you imagine what is going on at Walley World today. The rats will be a scurrying big time. Oh,don't forget Target another slime ball. Ret

[Teamster Jeff]

3. The penalty of getting a business license revolked

might actually force them to change their behavior.

[bvar22]

4. "Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, no close pal of labor, signed on as a sponsor "

Uh-Oh.
Somebody has some dirt on Rahm.
Now if they can just stop him from busting the Teacher's Union,
things may be looking up for the Working Class in Chicago!