Christy, Christina and I...a little windblown...
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
July 4th
So we went to a pier on the Hudson River in W. Greenwhich Village to watch the fireworks. Here's a few pictures that didn't turn out as well as I would've liked...
Christy, Christina and I...a little windblown...
Christy, Christina and I...a little windblown...
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Protest-please read
Today we went to the Church Center at the United Nations (CCUN). Our seminar was on globalization and more specifically sweatshops. We watched "The Corporation" which is a Michael Moore movie and I recommend it to everyone. It's very scary, the corporate world. It doesn't seem that we really live in a democratic, capitalistic society afterall, not that I thought we did in the first place, but it's worse than I thought it was.
But what I really want to talk about is that we participated in a protest with the "Justice Will Be Served!" campaign which is a coalition of the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, The Chinese Staff & Workers' Association, and 318 Workers Union. The protest was aiming to boycott and to inform people so that they will boycott the "Saigon Grill" here in Manhattan. What happened to lead up to this was that 36 delivery workers (delivery by bicycle) were unlawfully fired because they were organizing and planned to file a lawsuit. The owners demanded that the workers sign an illegal contract, stating that they had received minimum wage. They were actually receiving under $2.00 as low as $1.60 an hour. The workers, which included documented and undocumented, refused to lie.
The Saigon Grill's three locations earn more than $2 million per month. The workers would get paid under $2.00, while the legal minimum wage for NYC is approximately $4.85 for a job that earns tips. One worker said that he would get paid $120.00 for working a 75 hour week. On top of that, they would get fined for silly things like slamming a door on their way out (accidentally), taking sick leave, being late entering something into the computer. If the workers hurt themselves on the job, they had to pay their own medical bills. If they got robbed or beaten (common) while making a delivery, they had to pay not only their medical bills but the orders that got taken. Workers that spoke out against these conditions were automatically fired. They were verbally harassed by their supervisors and not allowed to call their families or eat. Some of these workers had been with Saigon Grill for 10+ years.
Why, you ask, would someone work in these conditions? They have to make money and they can't get a better job elsewhere because it would be similar conditions. Documented workers would be told that they could easily replaced with undocumented workers. The owners would threaten undocumented workers with calling INS. I was told that in New Jersey there are work conditions worse that this, where workers are working for nothing but tips!
These workers along with the orgs supporting them are fighting for justice. They are demanding that Saigon Grill immediately rehire all delivery worker and that they obey the labor law and pay workers their minimum wage and overtime pay, which was something else they weren't getting. This boycott has been going on for five months. A public press release was done. Members of the state legislator and others are aware of the situation but have not done anything to help. I did read however that a federal wage lawsuit has been filed.
Here are some pictures:
But what I really want to talk about is that we participated in a protest with the "Justice Will Be Served!" campaign which is a coalition of the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, The Chinese Staff & Workers' Association, and 318 Workers Union. The protest was aiming to boycott and to inform people so that they will boycott the "Saigon Grill" here in Manhattan. What happened to lead up to this was that 36 delivery workers (delivery by bicycle) were unlawfully fired because they were organizing and planned to file a lawsuit. The owners demanded that the workers sign an illegal contract, stating that they had received minimum wage. They were actually receiving under $2.00 as low as $1.60 an hour. The workers, which included documented and undocumented, refused to lie.
The Saigon Grill's three locations earn more than $2 million per month. The workers would get paid under $2.00, while the legal minimum wage for NYC is approximately $4.85 for a job that earns tips. One worker said that he would get paid $120.00 for working a 75 hour week. On top of that, they would get fined for silly things like slamming a door on their way out (accidentally), taking sick leave, being late entering something into the computer. If the workers hurt themselves on the job, they had to pay their own medical bills. If they got robbed or beaten (common) while making a delivery, they had to pay not only their medical bills but the orders that got taken. Workers that spoke out against these conditions were automatically fired. They were verbally harassed by their supervisors and not allowed to call their families or eat. Some of these workers had been with Saigon Grill for 10+ years.
Why, you ask, would someone work in these conditions? They have to make money and they can't get a better job elsewhere because it would be similar conditions. Documented workers would be told that they could easily replaced with undocumented workers. The owners would threaten undocumented workers with calling INS. I was told that in New Jersey there are work conditions worse that this, where workers are working for nothing but tips!
These workers along with the orgs supporting them are fighting for justice. They are demanding that Saigon Grill immediately rehire all delivery worker and that they obey the labor law and pay workers their minimum wage and overtime pay, which was something else they weren't getting. This boycott has been going on for five months. A public press release was done. Members of the state legislator and others are aware of the situation but have not done anything to help. I did read however that a federal wage lawsuit has been filed.
Here are some pictures:
Monday, July 2, 2007
Oscar Romero
This is what we are about.
We are the seeds that one day will grow.
We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promises.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
It enables us to do something, and to do it well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
~~~from Prayer by Archbishop Oscar Romero
Assasinated by the Salvadoran military in 1980 because he walked with the oppressed. The Salvadoran Military was funded by the U.S.
We are the seeds that one day will grow.
We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promises.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
It enables us to do something, and to do it well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
~~~from Prayer by Archbishop Oscar Romero
Assasinated by the Salvadoran military in 1980 because he walked with the oppressed. The Salvadoran Military was funded by the U.S.
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