The New York Coalition Against Wage Theft, of which Local 79 is a founding member, held a press conference and rally on November 17, 2015 to publicize the publication of the first major report on New York wage theft since 2009. Local 79 members were joined by other Coalition members–Local 78, Local 108, Local 1010, LECET, Make the Road New York, RWDSU, UFCW 1500, CPD, Labor -Religion Coalition, and other community and faith-based groups–to rally in front of a New York Insulation Inc.worksite to highlight the company’s long record of labor violations. They then went across the street, where they heard impassioned speeches from workers who had been victims of wage theft and from New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer and Public Advocate Letitia James.
The report, By a Thousand Cuts: The Complex Face of Wage Theft in New York, released by the Center for Public Democracy Action, identifies 11 bad “actors” with a history of wage theft that exemplify a broader trend in key New York sectors. The report contains never-before-released testimonies from impacted workers. The companies highlighted in the report are from around the state and have committed various wage theft violations such as denying benefits, failing to pay overtime or minimum wage, making illegal deductions from pay checks, telling workers to work off the clock, and misclassifying workers as freelancers or independent contractors to avoid paying benefits.
