Enterprise Cleaner Paid Workers Below Minimum Wage Without Adequate Overtime Pay or Paid Sick Leave

October 18, 2022 | Attorney General’s Press Office/212-416-8060 [email protected]

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced that she has recovered $90,000 in stolen and unpaid wages for more than a dozen former employees of a commercial dry cleaner in Astoria, Queens. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James

CONTACT: Rosanna Rodríguez, 347-440-3665, [email protected]

What: Launch of labor campaign at a retail laundromat in Harlem, NY.

When: Thursday, June 28th, 5:30 p.m. 7:00 p.m.

Where: Jefferson Park, Harlem (2180 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10029)

NEW YORK, JUNE 26th – While our clean clothes tumble at high heat, laundromat workers are being hung out to dry. As a fragmented and often isolated workforce, laundromat workers face unique vulnerabilities and challenges when it comes to organizing or advocating for their rights. This Thursday, June 28th, workers at a retail laundromat are planning to go public with their labor campaign surrounded by community supporters and the Laundry Workers Center. The employees will deliver to the owner a demand letter to end wage theft and dangerous conditions in their workplace. Mr. Benitez, a laundromat worker and a leader in the community highlights the unbearable conditions at the workplace:

Laundry Workers Center partnered with the Community Development Project of the Urban Justice Center to investigate the workplace challenges faced by retail laundromat workers. Together, we developed and conducted a participatory research project, combining observations at retail laundromats with worker surveys and interviews to document these workers’ experiences in a too often overlooked industry.

When we organize, we win! After leading a two year fight against wage theft, sexual harassment, and unsafe working conditions, Liberato Restaurant workers have officially won, reaching a settlement and making positive change in the workplace! On Monday they received their first settlement checks.

Read further about the amazing victory here.

Spanish and English: 
Rosanna Rodriguez, co-director, Laundry Workers Center, [email protected]

Bronx, NY–Today, workers at New Capitol Restaurant in the Bronx went public with their campaign to end wage theft, verbal and physical abuse, and dangerous conditions in their workplace.

Surrounded by a crowd of 100 community supporters, New Capitol worker Teofilo Ríos delivered a letter to restaurant management demanding an end to unfair and unsafe conditions.

New York, NY—Ending a 2-month long public campaign to protest an August 31st closure of the 63rd street Hot and Crusty, workers announced today that they have come to a final agreement with the new ownership of the store, following several weeks of negotiations with investors Anthony Illuzzi and David Kay. Workers will return to the job in as little as three weeks under a new collective bargaining agreement that provides for a union hiring hall, paid vacation and sick time, wage increases, seniority and grievance and arbitration procedures. Widely regarded as a precedent-setting contract for the restaurant industry, The Hot and Crusty Workers Association enthusiastically welcomed news of the agreement.

Dear LWC and Liberato campaign supporters – At the request of the judge, Liberato workers have entered settlement talks with the restaurant to see if a fair agreement can be reached before trial. In addition, the judge is ordering an independent review of Mr. Liberato’s financial records–an important step for the campaign.

During this time the workers have asked everyone not to protest at Liberato Restaurant. As always we stand ready to join with the community and fight for justice in the workplace and beyond!

Hi-res photos available

New York, NY — A leader of the NYC-based Laundry Workers Center (LWC) said he received a death threat Monday night, during a rally of over seventy people outside Liberato Restaurant, a popular Bronx establishment. LWC co-director Mahoma Lopez, along with members of the worker center and several community groups and labor unions, was protesting the firings of three workers last weekend at the restaurant.

“Someone came out of the restaurant and approached me at the picket line,” Lopez said. “He told me to be careful because the company already has five hit men with guns.”