Andrew Friedman

Holiday Spirit

Yesterday, hundreds of Latino workers from Make the Road by Walking and the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union united with local churches and community organizations to march along Knickerbocker Avenue, the busy retail corridor of Bushwick, Brooklyn, to celebrate the $200,000 they have won in illegally withheld wages for retail workers along the strip.

The workers are part of an innovative campaign, Despierta Bushwick, that brings consumers and workers together to demand living wages and improved working conditions for retail workers. Consumer pressure and boycotts support workers as they organize themselves into unions, and take legal action against employers who pay as little as $3.00 per hour.

Workers were not just celebrating their victories, though, they were putting employers on notice that the days of impunity for exploiting Bushwick retail workers are over. In 2006, the Despierta Bushwick Campaign will build on its victories and continue organizing to end workplace abuse in the retail sector.

Marchers informed store owners, workers and shoppers that the New York State minimum wage will increase on January 1st to $6.75 per hour. But workers' families need more than that to live with dignity. The Despierta Bushwick Campaign seeks to enforce the minimum wage only as a first step toward improving workers' lives. Workers are also organizing themselves into unions and winning higher wages, health benefits, sick days and power in the workplace.

This holiday season, it is good to see workers standing up for themselves.

Andrew Friedman: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 9:01 AM, Dec 19, 2005 in Labor
Permalink | Email to Friend