Guest workers at a Hershey Company distribution facility went on strike in the summer of 2011 over allegations that the visa holders made barely enough money to do anything other than show up for work.
A McDonald's in Dallas Twsp. PA paid its employees for months not in checks or direct deposit but in JP Morgan/Chase reloadable debit cards with tough restrictions on how much money could be withdrawn and where.
A McDonald's franchise owner in the Harrisburg area whose guest worker employees were barely scraping by went on strike last March and the same franchise owner is now embroiled in an age discrimination lawsuit.
And then there is this; Pennsylvania ranks fourth nationally in number of hotels breaking labor laws.
So this all begs some questions. Are we special? What is going on here?
According to a Federal Department of Labor study there is an "epidemic" at least in the field of wage and hour theft. For those who aren't familiar with labor law, and many aren't which is part of the problem, wage theft is time spent working while not being paid for it.
To no one's suprise the study stated
They’re (violations occurring) mostly in non-unionized, low-wage industries.Contrary to popular opinion, maybe no one is being done a favor by continuing to allow for the passage of measures which contribute to the reduction of union density in the commonwealth. [It is currently higher than the national average at 13.5 percent in 2012]
Continue to encourage Democrats to oppose so called "Right to Work" legislation and support union efforts as well as alternative labor movements as they progress. To look at say public sector unions and demand for those silly state employees to be like the rest of us with our ungaurenteed retirement and healthcare is non-sense. We should be demanding the opposite. We should be demanding to our employers to be like them.
As they say, "Together we bargain, divided we beg."
