Thanks to everyone who volunteered and came out to CSWA’s annual Lunar New Year Celebration, once again the event was a great success, with hundreds of people in attendance.
Below, a look back at some highlights from last year. Enjoy!
Celebrate the Lunar New Year with CSWA!
Chinese Staff & Workers’ Association
Invites you to a Lunar New Year Celebration
Please join us for a day of festivities with family and friends as we bring in the Year of the Rooster with exhilarating musical performances, an amazing lion dance, a lunch buffet and raffle prizes!
Sunday 2:30pm
February 26, 2017
PS 124 (40 Division Street in Chinatown, Manhattan)
For more information or to RSVP: 212-334-2333
Chinatown & LES Reclaim Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Demand Mayor de Blasio Step Down for Racist Rezoning
January 16 – City Hall. (Image credits – Lanny Li, Destiny Mata)
The Citywide Alliance Against Displacement held a rally at City Hall to demand Mayor de Blasio step down for promoting racist rezoning plans that target communities of color and to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of fighting against racial and economic injustice all over the country. Around 500 protesters gathered to call on the mayor to step down. The Alliance said it chose this day to hold the rally to reclaim the day from politicians like Mayor de Blasio who use celebrations on this day to cover up their own racist policies.
Lai Yee Chan from Chinese Staff & Workers Association pointed to the impact on workers in the area. She said, “I’m a home attendant, who have been taking care of Chinese seniors and patients for years. If the low-income families in the Chinese community are being pushed out, we will lose our jobs as well. Whether in Chinatown, Brooklyn or Flushing, both seniors and us home attendants are the victims of displacement, because we will face job loss. The mayor is making our lives desperate.”
For more, visit the Coalition’s website at https://peoplefirstnyc.org/.
Hundreds protest at City Hall on December 7
December 7, 2016 at City Hall
The Chinatown Working Group(CWG) Rezoning Plan has gained wide support in the LES and Chinatown community and beyond. If passed, the plan will put height limits on new developments. It will stop luxury waterfront skyscrapers, like Extell and JDS. It will prevent the sale of public housing and require any housing on NYCHA land to be 100% low-income. It will protect residents and small businesses against displacement.
Hundreds of people from the community have been protesting monthly at City Hall.
Mayor de Blasio has been colluding with big developers to slice up the plan. The city was proposing to rezone a part of Chinatown and exclude the Lower East Side, leaving the majority Latino and African American residents in NYCHA and waterfront buildings unprotected. Mayor de Blasio is pitting Chinese against Latinos and African Americans, helping the developers to displace us all!
Our community–Chinese, Latino and African American–held a large demonstration at City Hall in October against discriminatory zoning policies. The protest successfully pushed the City to scrap their Chinatown-only plan. This is a great example of people power! Now we need to make sure that the City pass the full CWG Rezoning Plan immediately, and we will keep coming back to City Hall each month until they do!
In the wake of the national election, Mayor de Blasio is trying to repair his tattered image as a Mayor for the 1%, vowing to protect the people of color being targeted by Donald Trump. But the Mayor himself has been targeting low-income, people of color communities across the City such as East Harlem, Inwood/Washington Heights, East New York and the South Bronx for luxury development. These communities are also rising up against displacement and joining us. We cannot stand by a mayor who claims to be for the people yet pushes racist policies in our community.
All images: Lanny Li
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親愛的會員和朋友们： 
大家好！
夏季郊遊开始售票啦。
职工会邀请大家一起来度过愉快的假日。
今年郊遊選點在上州法克霊-罗斯福州立公园(Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park)。
公園离紐約市大約一個小時的車程。
公园里有游泳池、儿童游乐场、湖上划船、足球场、篮球场、排球场，
还有钓鱼等等（钓鱼爱好者自备工具）。游泳池开放，每人收费3元。(请自备储物柜锁)
郊遊租用豪華冷氣巴士。為方便工友，分別從華埠和布碌崙两地出發。
請各位會員和朋友，选定方便自己上車的地點去購票。本會會員和兒童享有優待票价。
请各位會員缴交2016年的会员费。
如果喜歡燒烤的朋友，可以自備食物和野炊用品。
參加郊遊燒烤的工友，請向職工會報告人數以方便提供燒烤炭。
我们将在公园的5 B区范围作集中点。自己開車去郊遊的家庭，請通知我们并到本會取路線圖。私家車泊車費8元。
郊遊日期：2016年 8 月1 4日 (星期日)
開車時間：上午8時30分 (請勿遲到)
回程時間：下午5時
票 价： 會員 $15 ；非會員 $ 20；12岁以下兒童 $10
購票地點：華埠會所 格蘭街 345號 一樓（345 Grand St 1st FL）
（布碌崙上車的工友可以電話訂票）
上車地點：華埠會所 格蘭街 345 號 門前（345 Grand St 1st FL）
布碌崙 7大道 5411 號門前 (5411 7th Ave Brooklyn)
查詢電話：212-334-2333
| 职工会需要你捐款支持工人的组织工作。工人的心意，多少不拘，人多力量 大，集腋成裘，真正体现我们工人互相关心、互相帮助的意义。敬请捐助。 □10元 □20元 □50元 □其他 支票抬头：C S W A 邮寄地址：345 Grand St # 1W New York NY 10002 |
WATCH THIS: Lai Yee Chan’s 24 Hour Shift
Do you think it’s right to force workers into arbitration? What about forcing workers to do overtime? Do you have ideas on how to promote the campaign or want to get involved?
You can:
- Sign a petition to 1199SEIU here
- Tweet the Ain’t I A Woman?! position paper on why we need to #Fightfor40 and #StopMandatoryOT to President Obama and any presidential candidate.
- Get your organization to endorse the Ain’t I A Woman?! Campaign.
- Contact the Ain’t I A Woman?! Campaign about how you are organizing in your community and/or invite Ain’t I A Woman?! to speak at your next event.
CPC forces home attendants to work 24 hours! Workers call on 1199 SEIU to stand with them, clean up their act!
Lai Yee Chan, a home attendant for Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC), helped her patients day and night for over 15 years. During the day, she bathed and fed her patients. At night, she helped them get out of bed and go to the bathroom or get a drink of water. She could not leave her patient for even a second of her 24-hour shift. One day her daughter was locked out of her house, but Lai Yee was not allowed to go downstairs to give her daughter the key. Adding insult to injury, Lai Yee has not seen a pay increase in 8 years, is not paid for the 12 hours of work at night, except for a small fee, and is never paid overtime. Ultimately, workers like Lai Yee are paid about $5/hour, way less than the minimum wage.
In November, 2014, Lai Yee received a check from NYS Department Labor of about $200 for the 6,000 hours of overtime she worked from 2007 to 2013. Lai Yee went to her union, 1199 SEIU, for help. Union reps refused to file a grievance, and lied, telling her CPC was not required to pay overtime because CPC is a non-profit. Lai Yee and a few other workers were frustrated and decided that they wanted to speak out against the wage theft and mandatory overtime. With the support of Chinese Staff & Workers’ Association, in March 2015 they filed a class action against CPC and organized over a hundred co-workers to join them. CPC argued that the case should be arbitrated, according to their contract with the Union, and asked the court to dismiss the case. But in September 2015, New York State Supreme Court Judge Carol Edmead rejected the employer’s argument, stating that the contract’s arbitration clause was not specific enough to prevent workers from proceeding in court. She also affirmed their right to pursue pay for all hours worked.
Immediately after, the union shamelessly entered into an agreement with the employer to amend the contract making arbitration mandatory for any wage claims and prohibiting workers from representing other workers or the class. The amendment deprived workers of their right to a fair day in court. The new contract also cut the wages for all 24-hour-shift workers, instead of giving them their wage increase that was long overdue.
The union’s legal staff claimed the new contract was not being used to stop workers from pursuing the lawsuit, yet other union reps pushed hard for ratification of the new contract. Lai Yee and her coworkers felt compelled to speak out against this corrupt deal. When they complained about the amended contract at the ratification meeting, union reps called them “troublemakers” and attacked the workers who filed the lawsuit.
We demand the union stand by the workers instead of standing with CPC! We urge 1199 SEIU President George Gresham to clean house and remove the mandatory arbitration requirement from the union contract!
Do you want to support the home attendants to get justice and fight against mandatory overtime? Here’s what you can do:
- Get your organization to join the Ain’t I a Woman Campaign by visiting https://aintiawoman.org/endorse/
- Send a letter urging 1199 SEIU President George Gresham to clean house: 1199 Healthcare Workers East, 310 W 43rd St, New York, NY 10036
- Sign the petition online
- Speak out against Mandatory Overtime and for the Right to a 40-Hour Week
- Get involved and plan your own activities! Contact the campaign with any ideas at aiwcampaign@gmail.com!
Workers Call on Albany Legislators to Make the Minimum Wage Increase Real for All Workers
“With Minimum Wage Passed, Advocates Look to Wage Theft Issue” – Albany Times Union
“Workers Press for Bill to Assist Wage Theft Victims” – Public News Service
“Renewed Push to Prevent Wage Theft” – Capitol Tonight interview with Sarah Ahn and Susan Zimet of the SWEAT Coalition
MEDIA RELEASE
Workers Call on Albany Legislators:
Make the Minimum Wage Increase Real for All Workers
On the heels of New York State’s minimum wage increase, workers and supporters are convening in Albany to say, a wage increase is critical, but will never be seen by many workers unless the Legislature also provides the tools needed to enforce the wage laws. Workers, advocates, and supporters from throughout NYS joined Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, Senator Jose Peralta and co-sponsors to call for passage of A5501/S2232, the Securing Wages Earned Against Theft (SWEAT) bill.
According to a study by the US Department of Labor released last year, workers in NY and California lose 1.6-2.5 billion dollars a year to wage theft. This means, workers are not being paid for the work they have already performed. Even with recent measures to combat wage theft in NYS, many millions of workers are routinely cheated out of their pay. This is because employers are able to shut down their shops, transfer and hide their assets and never pay even when workers win court judgments. Many workers who turn to government agencies meet the same fate. A report published last year by the SWEAT Coalition found that $125 million went uncollected on wage theft judgments and orders, of which $101 million were from orders by the State Department of Labor.
The proposed bill offers a simple solution to workers and enforcing government agencies by introducing new tools to combat wage theft. The bill will expand and improve existing mechanisms so unscrupulous employers cannot fraudulently dissipate their assets to evade court judgments and orders to pay owed wages.
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, the bill’s lead sponsor, shared the experiences of her constituents and workers in her district who faced this uphill battle. “Without the ability to collect on a wage theft judgments, winning in court is not worth the
piece of paper it’s written on,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan). “Some employers will go to any length to avoid paying workers their hard earned wages, including filing for bankruptcy, leaving hundreds of hard working New Yorkers owed hundreds of millions of dollars in earned wages. My bill, A.5501-C, the SWEAT bill, will arm aggrieved employees with a powerful tool to collect wages they earned, allowing them to file a wage lien against the assets of their employer.”
State Senator Jose Peralta (D-Queens), sponsor of the bill, noted, “Countless hardworking New Yorkers are abused on the job when it comes to straight out wage theft, the theft of tips, and payments below the minimum wage. Unfortunately, predatory and unscrupulous employers are stealing money from men and women who earn it to support their families. This is intolerable. If an employer steals from a worker, we should have every possible recourse available to remedy the situation. Period.”
Jei Fong, a representative of the SWEAT Coalition stated, “If our elected officials in Albany don’t pass the SWEAT bill this year, many workers will be left behind when wages are increased next year. It’s impossible to lift workers out of poverty when unscrupulous employers continue to underpay workers and can still avoid ever being held responsible. Our bill allows workers and the government to go after only the employers who break the law. This is good for workers, law-abiding employers, and the state.”
The Coalition behind this bill is a statewide coalition, representing workers, community, advocacy and faith-based groups from all over New York State.
Susan Zimet, executive director of Hunger Action Network of New York State stated, “It is criminal that workers, after putting in hours and hours of work, can then have their wages stolen from them! How is the worker supposed to put food on the table or pay their bills? What good is a law if the loopholes are so big it is ineffectual? It is imperative that the SWEAT bill is passed this legislative session and signed into law. Workers deserve the protection under the law, and SWEAT will do just that.”
“The wage theft epidemic in New York is not isolated to the NYC and downstate area—it’s a state-wide crisis that impacts workers and communities throughout the state, including areas of Upstate, Central and Western New York,” said Elizabeth Koo from Empire Justice Center’s Workers’ Rights Project in Rochester, NY. “When wages are stolen from workers and they’re left unable to recover the money owed to them, it’s not only the workers who suffer—our government gets cheated of payroll taxes, it creates unfair competition to law-abiding businesses, and it hurts working families and our state’s economy. The SWEAT bill is badly needed to address the far-reaching impacts of the wage theft crisis in New York.”
Celebrate the Lunar New Year With Us!
CSWA’s Lunar New Year Celebration
Sunday, March 6, 2016
2:30pm-5pm
P.S.124 – Yung Wing School
(40 Division St in Chinatown, Manhattan)
Lion Dance Performers at CSWA’s 2015 Lunar New Year Celebration
As Fearlessly as the Monkey King Defeating All Demons
Chinese Workers Gain Justice Through Struggle
Join us for a day of festivities with family and friends as we bring in the Year of the Monkey with performances, a lion dance, lunch buffet, and raffle prizes.
Celebrate the victories and achievements of 2015 and look forward with us to uniting our community against racism and exploitation.
RSVP to cswa@cswa.org or call 212-334-2333
反歧视 反逼迁 反贵租 社区大会! 邀请白思豪市长到场表示立场！
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萧华被判有罪，振奋人心！华埠和下东城有转机了。萧华成为议长后称霸我们社区二十多年，对我们社区建树很少，而且最近的七、八年，他和地产商以及某些民选官员勾结，破坏唐人街下东城。在他管辖的地段上和发号施令下，以致第三社区委员会和市议会通过了彭博的歧视性的东村土改计划，令唐人街和下东城得不到同等的保护，讓地产商大量地侵占华埠，起豪华高楼和酒店。他还将苏域柏的政府公用地拱手相送给地产商，应付式地建很少低收入家庭可负担的房屋。这个民选官员贪得无厌，帮Extell 在Pathmark的旧址建80层豪华高楼和设立“穷人门”，并得到政府津贴。由此令地税和租金飙升，小生意不能负担昂贵的租金，工人减少工作机会，居民无以为继，人人在贵租的压力下怨声载道。很多民众都把愤怒指向与萧华关系密切的陈倩雯，以致人人都骂陈倩雯。
现在，萧华被判有罪，给我们华人和少数族裔大好的翻身机会。俗语讲“树倒猢狲散”，和他要好的政客，怕被调查，人人自危的时候，我们应该出来，反对这些破坏我们家园的豪华建筑和带歧视性的土改计划。
我们要将愤怒化为力量，呼吁大家踊跃参加12月5日的社区大会，要求市长出席大会，通过华埠工作小组的土改计划，停止Extell 种族歧视的大楼；终止421 A 地税优惠给地产商。
社区大会时间：2015年12月5日 (星期六） 下午4時正
社区大会地址：华埠 格兰街350号 苏域柏高中的大礼堂
联络电话: 212-334-2333