His name is Guadalupe Flores, and he works the midnight shift seven nights a week, stripping, waxing and buffing the floors of an upscale Fullerton supermarket. He says he earns far less than the minimum wage, and just laughs when asked about overtime pay for his 56-hour weeks. Strong chemicals make his nose bleed, burn …
JENNIFER LUDDEN, host: On this Labor Day weekend, we turn our attention to a group of workers who often go unnoticed. They’re the janitors who clean office buildings and discount stores after they empty out at night. Many are immigrants, some illegal, and they’re often made to work grueling hours for pay well below minimum …
Plight of underpaid and overworked janitorial workers Read More »
Long before he left his native Guadalajara, Mexico, Ricardo Robles heard he could easily find a good-paying job in the United States. So it came as little surprise to him that almost as soon as he arrived in San Francisco two years ago, undocumented and penniless, he was earning $10 an hour pouring concrete for …
On the payroll: illegal immigrants; Enforcement is focused on border, not business Read More »
Jose Luis Cazares and Marina Torres cleaned the Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live for more than six years, working 11-hour night shifts seven days a week up until 2011. Despite the long hours, the couple said they always got checks from Regal’s janitorial subcontractor for the same amount: $700, twice a month — a sum …
Paid sick days. Tougher penalties for employers who withhold back wages. More liability for corporations that use subcontractors. The priority list of organized labor, a formidable force in the Legislature, begins with these three items. In the recurring rhetoric of business vs. labor, the measures either protect workers or destroy work. The measures sit on …
Temporary workers, paid sick days, back wages lead California labor priorities Read More »
Three of the largest supermarket chains in California have reached a tentative $22.4 million settlement in a class-action suit by immigrant janitors who said they often earned $3.50 an hour and were never paid overtime, the two sides said yesterday. The chains — Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons — tentatively settled the suit by 2,100 janitors, …
3 Chains Agree in Suit Over Janitors’ Wages and Hours Read More »
From the age of 14, Isaias Garcia cleaned office buildings, waxing floors and scrubbing bathrooms, as long as 16 hours a day. For the first 40 hours a week, he says, he was paid under the name Ramon Caballero, and for the next 40 hours as Iziqueil Gonzalez. The cleaning company’s managers used these names …
Among Janitors, Labor Violations Go With the Job Read More »
When a Vons cleaning contractor vanished last year without paying dozens of immigrant janitors, a watchdog group funded by other cleaning contractors stepped forward and helped the janitors file claims with the California Labor Commission. Vons ended up paying the workers, including several from San Diego, nearly $115,000 that it withheld from the contractor’s final …
Watchdog group helps keep janitorial contractors clean Read More »
Don’t be fooled by the colorfully framed family photos on Lilia Garcia’s bookshelves, or the volume of Maya Angelou’s poetry, or the collection of coffee mugs with cheery sayings. Garcia is no mushy, stuffed-animal-loving softie. Her tiny, windowless office is the command center for a long-running battle against outlaw cleaning companies that prey on low-wage …
The United States Department of Labor announced yesterday that it had reached a $1.9 million settlement with a contractor for the Target Corporation after finding that the contractor had not paid overtime to hundreds of immigrant janitors who often worked seven nights a week cleaning Target stores. Several janitors said in interviews that the Target …
