Yellow Rat Bastard Workers Join RWDSU in New York (10/7/08)

Activists rally in front of Yellow Rat Bastard in February. 

Workers at urban youth fashion retail chain Yellow Rat Bastard have joined the RWDSU, continuing on a path to a union contract that they have sought for three years. The 160 workers joined the RWDSU via a card check recognition on October 3.

Workers at Yellow Rat Bastard, which has seven stores throughout New York CIty, have continually suffered abuses including criminally low pay and overtime violations. Earlier this year, the clothing chain agreed to pay a $1.4 million settlement to over 1,000 workers who had been cheated out of fair pay. The lawsuit, filed by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, came as a result of the efforts of the Retail Action Project, a partnership between the RWDSU and the community group Good Old Lower East Side.

"This another step toward justice, dignity, and respect for the workers at Yellow Rat Bastard, whose owners have too often lived up to their store's name," said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbuam. "We can only hope that management agrees to respect the decision of its workers and negotiates a contract in good faith."