Fighting Wage Theft in SoHo (2/3/10)

Watch video of the event 

 The RWDSU's Retail Action Project sponsored a march this evening through the retail district in New York City's trendy SoHo neighborhood tonight, calling for an end to the wage and hour violations that plague the area. The March of Hearts rally featured the testimony of workers who are fighting to recover millions of dollars in back wages from two retail chains in SoHo—Shoe Mania and Mystique.

“For decades the retail sector has been a free-fire zone of worker abuse. With this march we’re putting every merchant on notice that New Yorkers have zero tolerance for employer lawlessness and that retail workers deserve a living wage,” said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum (below).

Workers told marchers about the wage and hour abuses they suffered while working at Shoe Mania stores.

“For over three years, I worked at Shoe Mania 11 hours a day, six days a week. That’s over 65 hours every week! But I was never paid overtime. Whenever I got my paycheck, it would only show that I worked 40 hours per week,” said Ahmed Dalhatu, former stock worker at the former 11 West 34th Street Shoe Mania store.

 Ahmed Dalhatu

“The only time my pay went up was when the minimum wage increased. For the nearly three years I worked at Shoe Mania, I never once got a single raise,” said John Montaño, former sales worker at the 853 Broadway Shoe Mania store. “If Shoe Mania were required to pay us a living wage, we would have enough to provide for ourselves and our families,” he added.

At Mystique, many workers reported they were putting in excessive overtime without receiving the time-and-a-half pay they have earned. Additionally, they claim that they had worked for  as little as $5.15 per hour, $2 less than the federal and state minimum wage. Workers also report that the owners of Mystique fired 30 workers after they attempted to win back their stolen wages.

Members of the community partner of the Retail Action Project, Good Old Lower East Side, joined the activists to show that they expect businesses in their neighborhood to treat their workers fairly.

“Those who violate wage and hour laws are not welcome in our community,” said Damaris Reyes, Executive Director of  Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES). “We are committed to ending wage exploitation and wage theft and will do everything in our power to make sure that our neighbors receive a living wage.”