Equal Rights for All Workers

April 4 demonstration – redux flyer

NO ONE – NOT EVEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT – IS  ABOVE THE LAW!

JOIN US AT THE DEMONSTRATION to fight for the right for all workers – regardless of immigration status – to file a complaint with government agencies. Ensure the right to come together to end exploitation!

WHEN: Wednesday, April 4, 12:00 PM

WHERE: 26 Federal Plaza (Broadway)

Transportation: 1/2/3/A/C/E to Chambers, 4/5/6 to Brooklyn Bridge, R to City Hall

^TheJustice Will Be Served! _{Campaign: Sponsored by NMASS, CSWA, and 318 RWU}

For Immediate Release:  March 1, 2012

US Attorney General Eric Holder: Stop the attack on workers who file complaints with government agencies!

Location: 26 Federal Plaza (Broadway)

Time: Thursday, March 1, 12:00 PM

Workers and community organizations will hold a demonstration to demand that US Attorney General Eric Holder stop the federal government’s attack on workers who complain to the government. Protesters demand the prosecution of federal agents for their repeated attacks on whistleblowers.

For over ten years, drivers worked up to 16 hours per day without any wages and were forced to pay the company weekly fees to work. Owner Tony Luo collected all cash from the drivers and did not report to the government. When drivers protested the fees, Luo retaliated against them with threats, harassment, firing, and even gang violence. In 2011, after twenty drivers filed a complaint with the NYS Department of Labor (NYSDOL), the NYSDOL determined that Yes Car drivers were in fact company employees, awarding unemployment insurance to one of the drivers and requiring Luo hand in all employees’ payroll records never before submitted to the federal or state government. Luo appealed the decision and since then, federal agents have escalated a campaign of harassment against the workers, threatening them with jail time and deportation in order to force them to retract their complaints, and making repeated arrests of complainants. Already twice, prosecutors were forced to dismiss criminal charges against the workers because of lack of evidence.

Justice Will Be Served! representative Similiano Martinez says, “This is an attack on all workers. If we don’t even have the right to file complaints with the government, how do we enforce the labor law? Instead of going after the sweatshop boss, the federal government is going after workers. They shouldn’t let the boss off the hook!”

At Thursday’s demonstration, workers, community organizations, faith-based groups, and legal advocates will demand the US Attorney General: stop the attacks on workers who stand up to complain; prosecute federal government agents for their wrongdoing; and ensure the right of all workers to complain to government agencies regardless of their immigration status. On April 1, the coalition of organizations and workers will hold a demonstration if these demands are not met.

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Endorsing organizations (list in formation): Justice Will Be Served! Campaign, National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, Chinese Staff & Workers Association, American Friends Service Committee, Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund, Urban Justice Center Community Development Project, United Methodist Global Ministries, Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State, Common Law, West Park Presbyterian Church, Episcopal Community Services Long Island, St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church Flushing Greens, Harlem Tenants Council, Sweatshop Free Upper West Side, Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrants Rights, Independent Workers’ Movement, Industrial Workers of the World, Jornaleros Unidos, Brandworkers, Million Workers March, People’s Organization for Progress, Philippine Forum, Sisa Pakari Labor Committee, International Action Center, Desis Rising Up and Moving, Nodutdol, May 1st Coalition, Project Reach, Global Action Project, CUNY Law Labor Coalition for Workers Rights & Economic Justice, Rabbi Neal Kaunfer-Director of Judeotutor Educational Services, Hunger Action Network of New York State

Dear Friend:

In the past few years, the Justice Will Be Served! Campaign has been organizing thousands of workers throughout New York State to stand up against sweatshop conditions in the service industry. In spite of firing, blacklisting and even physical assault from employers, many workers have still come forward to fight for their rights. This has not only improved working conditions, but also has helped many other workers gain confidence to enforce the law through litigation or filing complaints with government agencies.

In 2009, due to the complaints of 20 drivers of the Flushing New York enterprise, Yes! Car Service, the NY State Department of Labor began investigating rampant misclassification practices in the car service industry. For over ten years, drivers worked up to 16 hours per day without any wages and were forced to pay the company weekly fees to work. Owner Tony Luo collected all cash from the drivers and did not report to the government. When drivers protested the fees, Luo retaliated against them with threats, harassment, firing, and even gang violence.[1] On August 2, 2010, based on the drivers’ evidence, the NYS Department of Labor determined that drivers of the Yes Car Service Enterprise are employees and not independent contractors, awarding unemployment insurance (UI) to one of the drivers and requiring that Luo hand in payroll records of all employees, which he had never submitted to the federal or state government.[2]

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1. 2000-Tony Luo starts to operate the Yes Car Service Company.

2. 2009- Yes Car Service has 98 vans and 80 limos that run between Flushing, Brooklyn, and Chinatown. The Company employs 178 drivers. Each driver works 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. The company does not pay any wages and requires each driver to pay a set amount of “protection fees.”

3. 7/1/09- Around 20-30 drivers protest together against Tony Luo’s increase of $100 in weekly protection fee (from around $175 to $275 or $300 in cash, without receipt). Tony Luo fires all the drivers who complained.

4. 8/09-The drivers come to CSWA for help.

5. 9/17/09- With the support of the Justice Will Be Served! Campaign, all the drivers picket in front of the Yes Car Service headquarters to protest against Tony Luo and his associates’ use of gang tactics, threats, and harassment against drivers. The drivers demand that U.S. Justice Department investigate and prosecute Tony Luo and his associates.

6. From around the end of 2009 to the beginning of 2010, many drivers complain to the NYS Department of Labor. They call on the NY State DOL to investigate Yes Car Service, Tony Luo and his associates for failure to pay wages, workers’ compensation insurance, and unemployment insurance, amongst other illegal practices.

7. 8/2/10- After many months of investigation the NYS Department of Labor determines that the drivers are employees. The DOL also awards unemployment insurance to one of the drivers.

8. 8/24/10- Yes Car Service employer Tony Luo appeals the NYS Department of Labor’s decision that drivers are “employees”.

9. NYS Department of Labor holds a series of hearings from November 2010 to December 2011. Three of the former Yes Car Service drivers give sworn testimony in support of the NYS DOL decision.

10. In or around April 2011, before a scheduled hearing on May 2, 2011, federal government agents went to the drivers’ homes and threatened and forced them to lie under oath and recant their previous testimony. The agents threatened the drivers that if they do not obey, they will be arrested and deported.

11. On around May 2011, the drivers along with other community organizations and supporters protested in front of 26 Federal Plaza to demand an investigation into the wrongdoing of the federal government agents. Many organizations send a letter to the US Attorney General Eric Holder to call for an investigation.[1] Since then, there has been no response.

12. On Monday, January 23, 2012, the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, three drivers are arrested by the same federal government agents, because they refused to recant their previous testimonies and lie under oath and continued to assert their rights under the law. A total of eight Yes Car Service drivers have been arrested, thus far, for complaining about the company’s illegal practices.