Low-wage workers need EFCA

Low-wage workers are vulnerable to wage theft by bosses over and above the “normal” capitalist theft of the vast surplus value created by workers. This conclusion of a March 25 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office won’t come as a surprise to immigrant workers, day laborers and millions of workers from small shops to huge multi-national corporations.

The report exposes another reason to fight for the Employee Free Choice Act designed to remove barriers against workers forming unions. The Wages and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor is an inadequate defender of workers’ rights even under the existing laws.

Organized workers, however, have immense potential power that can be immediately brought to bear on bosses violating laws and agreements, as dramatically proven last December by United Electrical Local 1110 at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago. These workers successfully enforced the plant-closing pre-notification WARN Act by taking possession of the plant and equipment amassed by their sweat equity.

The Wage and Hour Division receives violation complaints regarding minimum wage, overtime pay, child labor and family medical leave based on the Fair Labor Standards Act covering more than 100 million workers.

The GAO report tracked complaints about underage children doing dangerous work at a meat-packing plant. Other complaints came from clerks at dry cleaners, convenience stores, and laundromats; restaurant wait staff, dishwashers and janitors; construction day laborers, siding installers and house painters; teen counselors at a boarding school; paramedics, lawn mowers, receptionists, garment workers, sewers, and fuel tank mechanics—all reporting their bosses’ failure to pay the final checks, minimum wage or overtime.

The report found delayed investigations; failure to use all enforcement tools and advising workers with the least resources to sue; no follow-up with employers to confirm that those who agreed to pay actually did. The GAO report also noted Wage and Hour rules that prevented investigators from pursuing cases.

In 2007 the Wage and Hour Division’s Southeast region recorded handling 57 percent of all initial attempts to resolve complaints called “conciliations.” However, by regional policy, unsuccessful conciliations are not recorded in the WHD database. So the success rate was deceptively high and a potentially much larger number of complaints from the Southeast was hidden.

The Southeast region includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. All but Kentucky are among the “right-to-work” states that sharply restrict the rights of worker organizations. Without unions, more workers are left at the mercy of ineffective government agencies to extract justice from employers.