On May 25, NMASS members testified before the New York State Senate Standing Committee on the Judiciary And Standing Committee on Labor, urging them to support the Securing Wages Earned Against Theft (SWEAT) Act (S.1977/A.46). The NYC Hospitality Alliance and its president Melba Wilson successfully blocked SWEAT from passing again this year, protecting employers who steal workers wages rather than honest businesses and workers who come forward to stand up for their rights. The SWEAT bill would protect workers from wage theft by giving them the ability to place a lien on their employer’s assets and prevent them from transferring property until they have paid workers their stolen wages—even if the employer goes out of business or files for bankruptcy. That is why workers will hold a protest in front of Melba’s Restaurant Sunday, June 18 at 2pm. Join us and spread the word! Below is a testimony from NMASS member Yanin Peña who makes the point that wage theft, like the 24-hour workday, is racist violence.

“My name is Yanin Peña, I’m speaking on behalf of Women Against Racist Violence (WARV) a multiracial collective of young people, organizing to address the racist violence that women experience daily in forms such as the 24 hour workdays, wage theft, and displacement.  I’d like to share our perspective on wage theft along with a personal anecdote. 

In my early 20s I worked at a bar where I was promised cash payments at the end of each night. After 8 hours of work, the manager tells me that he can only pay me if I get male customers to buy a certain amount of drinks. I noticed that many of the girls around me were roped into this line of work, to accept being groped by drunken men out of necessity. Many had children or were undocumented. I walked away that night with $5 and a metrocard. I can’t describe how violated and worthless I felt that night.

It was only years later till I began organizing with the Sweat Coalition and also with home attendants, hearing about their harrowing stories of wage theft that I was able to make sense of what me and many of my colleagues endured.

Every year bosses steal billions from workers and our state turns a blind eye and their zero response leads many to believe that wage theft is a victimless crime and that bosses can freely get away with stealing from their workers.  What’s the use of calling it wage theft or a crime if it’s one there are no consequences.

I believe part of the problem lies in how our perspective on what constitutes crime and violence sometimes ends up trivializing the issue. It doesn’t capture the suffering and generational aftershocks of  wage theft, or how it destroys worker’s lives, their families, and their communities. I think we need to start calling wage theft what by what it really is: racist violence. 

Let me break it down for those who may think this is hyperbole:

Every paycheck that is stolen from a worker is a step closer to starvation and homelessness. What is this if not violence?

Every paycheck stolen from a woman is a step closer to staying in an abusive relationship to survive. What is this if not violence?

Every paycheck stolen is a step closer to a worker landing in prison for committing a crime out of desperation. What is this if not violence?!

In the South Bronx one of the poorest congressional districts in the United States where many of the home attendants I work with live and where wage stealing agencies. operate – every 13 hours stolen from a home attendant each year means money deprived from them and their families, impacting their ability to afford education, housing and other necessities. This traps our kids and communities in a cycle of racist violence of poverty.

Perhaps this is why I’m so infuriated today. Wage theft continues unabated because so many politicians  are too immobilized by bloodsucking sweatshop bosses to end this violence. They’ve been duped by unethical and shameful organizations like Hospitality Alliance, against their better judgment, to believe lies about how workers will abuse SWEAT and file false claims. 

In the era of #metoo we’re told to believe all victims of abuse – that is, unless they’ve had their wages stolen and dare to speak out. 

It’s time to believe workers! 

Shame on the Hospitality Alliance using their Black celebrity president as cover for their racist crimes. Shame on them for claiming victims of wage theft are liars.If politicians have a shred of integrity they’d stop listening to the Hospitality Alliance and pass SWEAT and be part of the solution to redress this violence rather than be an obstacle in the way of justice.

I urge you to pass SWEAT immediately.”