Andrew Friedman

Here’s a Tip for Grocery Stores - Pay Your Workers!

Yesterday's New York Times ran an infuriating story about widespread exploitation of workers in the grocery industry, Long Treated as Volunteers Tips-Only Supermarket Baggers Take Up Fight for Hourly Wage.

You heard it here first, though. Early in the summer I wrote a blog about this same problem, Gotta Get Paid.

Grocery stores throughout New York City have a practice of violating labor law by having the workers that bag the groceries work for tips-only. These workers receive no hourly wage. Some owners went on the record with the Times and admitted it. The fact that workers are willing to work for as little as $16 in tips for a thirteen hour work day speaks to how tight the labor market can be for elderly immigrants and younger African-American men. The fact that this practice is so common speaks to the inefficacy of labor law enforcement under Governor Pataki's Department of Labor.

Hopefully, things have changed. Elliot Spitzer, who, as Attorney General, had his Labor Department, led by Patricia Smith, begin an investigation of these practices in a number of Brooklyn supermarkets brought to his attention by Make the Road by Walking.

Pat Smith is now heading up the State Department of Labor. She should take up this issue as her first priority. She should begin an industry-wide investigation of labor law violations at groceries, and she should crack-down hard on employers who are breaking the law. She should also crack-down on employers who retaliate against their workers for reporting these violations. She did so while working at the AG's office - forcing the Associated Supermarket at 229 Knickerbocker Avenue to re-hire an elderly couple they fired in retaliation for speaking to her investigators.

Her spirit and her commitment to enforcing labor law is a welcome change at State DOL.

The supermarket industry, too, can start taking steps to police itself. Supermarket associations and chains, such as Associated and Pioneer Supermarkets, should not let abusive employers to use their name. They could easily require stores to sign an agreement to abide by labor law, or lose their right to affiliate.

The cat's out of the bag about baggers. It is an important test for both the State DOL and the supermarket industry. Let's see how they respond.

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Posted at 7:49 AM, Feb 12, 2007 in Labor
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