Labor Notes
July 14, 2010 - Working a low-wage retail job in New York City isn’t easy, but for people like Romeo Ilboudou, a stock manager at the high-end clothing retailer Scoop NYC, discrimination, wage theft, and hazardous conditions made it even lousier. Read more.
WBAI
July 12, 2010 - Workers at the high-end clothing retailer Scoop NYC have won a victory after a year of organizing, public demonstrations, and legal action to make the company follow wage and hour laws. Read more.
Women's Wear Daily
July 8, 2010 - Scoop NYC, which operates 11 stores throughout the U.S., has reached a confidential settlement with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and Retail Action Project. Read more.
Crain's New York
July 7, 2010 - Exactly one year after trendy retailer Scoop NYC was hit with a lawsuit for unpaid overtime and employee discrimination, a settlement has been reached. The financials of the settlement were not disclosed. Read more.
Workday Minnesota
July 7, 2010 - DETROIT - Dozens of Minnesota labor and community activists took part in the recent U.S. Social Forum June 22-26 in Detroit. They joined over 15,000 others under the banner “Another World is Possible: Another U.S. is Necessary.” Read more.
Crain's New York
July 2, 2010 - Three measures seek to raise prevailing wages for contracted personnel at public utilities, increase penalties for employer who violate labor laws and offer protections for domestic workers. Read more.
Labor Notes
June 30, 2010 - Labor Notes had a presence at the U.S. Social Forum last week, the gathering in Detroit of 15,000 activists from every different social justice movement you can think of. There was a workshop for every cause and strategy, from stopping “fracking” to using Read more.
GRIID
June 26, 2010 - “Resistance in Retail,” a Friday morning workshop st the US Social Forum, brought together a panel of labor organizers that included Grand Rapids’ own Cole Dorsey, IWW Starbucks Union. Others on the panel represented New York City’s Retail Action Project Read more.
WBAI's City Watch
June 16, 2010 - RAP members Irene R Romero and Tyi Jones speak about living wages and the importance of of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act! Both have worked at Yellow Rat Bastard and have seen the benefits of unionization. Read more.
Gotham Gazette
April 13, 2010 - This is the continuation of a "Subsidies in the City." Read more.
Gotham Gazette
April 13, 2010 - ix years ago, Manhattan Laminates received tax breaks from the city's Industrial Development Agency, the financing arm of the city's Economic Development Corp. In a deal that will span 25 years ending in 2029, Laminates has already received $197,000 in pu Read more.
Znet
April 12, 2010 - Hundreds of thousands of workers are being cheated by U.S. employers who blatantly violate the laws that are supposed to guarantee workers decent wages, hours and working conditions. Read more.
City Limits
April 6, 2010 - The City Council might require buildings that receive tax breaks to pay their staff higher wages. The real estate industry opposes the idea. Where does the mayor stand? Read more.
Interfaith Worker Justice
April 6, 2010 - Many of the most economically marginalized workers -- those with everything at risk, including their jobs, their livelihoods, and their ability to provide for themselves and their families -- must additionally contend with such unethical, illegal and mora Read more.
AFL-CIO
April 5, 2010 - In a 180-degreee turn from a Labor Department under the Bush administration that tried to gut overtime rules for millions of workers, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has unveiled a new campaign to inform workers about their pay rights and to put a stop to wag Read more.
The Wall Street Journal
April 5, 2010 - The Labor Department is encouraging low-wage and immigrant workers to turn in employers who are shortchanging their pay, as part of an expanding effort to enforce wage and hour rules. Read more.
Times Union
April 5, 2010 - At a time of massive revenue shortfalls and harsh budget cuts for New York, it's rare to find a policy that produces public benefits without painful costs. Read more.
New York Post
April 4, 2010 - Real-estate mogul Steve Ross found one of the few upsides to owning one of the city's premier properties in a severe recession -- he won steep tax reductions for his Time Warner Center holdings when he joined a record number of property owners challenging Read more.
The Huffington Post
April 3, 2010 - When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, the world stopped for a moment. Shaken, confused but searching for a way to continue the fight, civil rights leaders decided to continue King's Poor People's Campaign by building a tent city Read more.
WBAI
March 29, 2010 - Nearly a billion dollars were stolen in New York City last year, & the thieves aren’t even worried about getting caught. Read more.
NY Daily News
March 13, 2010 - Advocates for immigrants and the poor want the state to crack down on a type of robbery rampant in New York: wage theft. Read more.
DNA Info
March 12, 2010 - Retail workers, activists and politicians turned out to announce the introduction of a new bill that could protect local workers from losing millions of dollars in unpaid wages. Read more.
New York Times
March 12, 2010 - A coalition of labor unions, immigrant advocacy groups and nonprofit organizations in New York announced their support on Friday for newly introduced legislation that would greatly increase penalties against employers that violate minimum-wage and overtim Read more.
Crain's New York
March 12, 2010 - At a SoHo press conference, politicians, union leaders and workers vow to fight back against employers who fail to pay a fair wage. Read more.
New York Criminal Law Blog
March 12, 2010 - Discount clothing retailer David Cohen better have a top-notch NY criminal defense attorney! Mr. Cohen, the owner of the Mystique Boutique chain of Manhattan clothing stores (among other stores), was arrested earlier this month in New York City. Read more.
WWD
March 9, 2010 - New York footwear chain Shoe Mania could pay $1.1 million to former and current employees to settle several outstanding wage-and-hour lawsuits. Read more.
GRITtv
March 3, 2010 - The owner of several downtown New York boutiques was arrested recently and faces four years in jail as well as civil lawsuits for up to $1.5 million. Read more.
CNS News
February 26, 2010 - The White House is looking at a new policy that would give an advantage in bidding on government contracts to companies that offer generous benefits and good pay. Read more.
Labor Notes
February 25, 2010 - Wage-thieving employers, beware: the owner of a New York boutique chain accused of shorting workers by $1.5 million was taken away in handcuffs Tuesday. Read more.
New York Times
February 25, 2010 - The Obama administration is planning to use the government’s enormous buying power to prod private companies to improve wages and benefits for millions of workers, according to White House officials and several interest groups briefed on the plan. Read more.
AOL Stylist.com
February 24, 2010 - Has the recession spawned a new set of bosses from hell? New York City retail owner David Cohen, who sells fast fashion at his seven-store Mystique boutique chain, has allegedly been even faster at pulling the slip on his employees. Read more.
The Epoch Times
February 24, 2010 - A retailer who owned Mistique Boutique and six other stores in New York City was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly paying his employees less than legal wages, faking tax returns, and obstructing investigation into his case. Read more.
WWD
February 24, 2010 - David Cohen, owner of seven clothing stores in Manhattan, has been arrested for allegedly failing to pay his employees proper legal wages, falsifying tax and business records and “trying to impede the attorney general’s investigation,” New York State Atto Read more.
New York Magazine
February 24, 2010 - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is more fashion savvy than we thought. Read more.
New York Times
February 23, 2010 - The owner of seven budget clothing stores in Lower Manhattan was arrested on charges of underpaying his workers and falsifying business records, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said. Read more.
The Village Voice
February 23, 2010 - The owner of a chain of chic downtown boutiques was fitted for a pair of handcuffs today. Read more.
Crain's New York
February 23, 2010 - Mystique Boutique owner faces jail time and big monetary damages for allegedly underpaying workers' hourly wages and neglecting to pay overtime. Read more.
VIN News
February 23, 2010 - Three weeks ago, hundreds of disgruntled New York workers braved the cold weather to march 20 blocks in protest of unfair wage practices. Read more.
North Country Gazette
February 23, 2010 - David Cohen, the owner of seven popular clothing stores in New York City, has been arrested for allegedly failing to pay his employees proper legal wages, falsifying tax and business records, and trying to impede the Attorney General’s investigation into Read more.
The Indypendent
February 19, 2010 - There are thousands of fashion victims in New York City, but not due to a lack of style. Rather, these are the low-wage workers in the fashion industry who stock, cashier and provide security at high-end fashion stores. Read more.
The New York Observer
February 10, 2010 - For the second time in as many days, Comptroller John Liu has announced plans to revamp a process related to real estate development. Read more.
The Villager
February 10, 2010 - The stretch of Broadway in Soho is best known for its retail. But for a group of labor activists, it is also a hotbed of union organizing. Read more.
The Village Voice
February 9, 2010 - Wage justice has long been the signature issue of labor lawyer M. Patricia Smith, and that is exactly what so spooked the Right when President Obama proposed her last year as top attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor. For nine months, Republicans bloc Read more.
DNAinfo
February 5, 2010 - GREENWICH VILLAGE — Retail workers, activists and politicians turned out in droves to protest neighborhood business chains that are selling pricey top-named brands but aren’t paying employees fair wages. Read more.
Union Review
February 4, 2010 - The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union's Retail Action Project sponsored a march this week through New York City's trendy SoHo neighborhood, calling for an end to the wage and hour violations that plague the area. Read more.
Women's Wear Daily
February 4, 2010 - About 50 retail workers and organizers and their supporters rallied in NoHo late Wednesday afternoon to decry alleged unfair labor practices at Manhattan retailers Shoe Mania and Mystique Boutique. Read more.
Press TV
February 4, 2010 - Press TV covers the March of Hearts Read more.
Crain's
February 3, 2010 - Footwear retailer Shoe Mania and clothing store Mystique Boutique have been accused by current and former employees of unfair labor practices in SoHo. Read more.
News Blaze
February 2, 2010 - The heat is on NYC employers who think they can violate labor rights laws with impunity, as the New York Times, Crain's NY, and In These Times brought attention to the January report from the National Employment Law Project that more than half of NYC's lo Read more.
WNYC - The Brian Lehrer Show
February 2, 2010 - Many employment and labor laws are regularly and systematically violated in New York City. That's according to a new report co-authored by Annette Bernhardt, policy co-director at the National Employment Law Project. Read more.
In These Times
January 29, 2010 - If you're one of about 317,000 unlucky New Yorkers, there's a good chance your boss screwed you this week. The average low-wage worker in the city loses approximately $58 a week—a total loss of more than $3,000 a year—thanks to employers who see cheating Read more.
New York Times
January 28, 2010 - More than half of the low-wage workers in New York City are routinely being cheated of some of the meager pay that is due them, according to a report to be released on Thursday by the National Employment Law Project. Read more.
Crain's New York Business
January 28, 2010 - Study finds low-income workers lose almost 15% of their earnings due to employers failing to pay required minimum wage, overtime and other protections. Read more.
Workers Independent News
January 27, 2010 - Wage theft continues to be a major issue in the United States even with increasing pressure being placed on employers. Read more.
Working-Class Perspectives
January 11, 2010 - British historian E.H. Carr once said something to the effect that while no serious scholar makes up the facts, they all choose which facts “to put on stage.” Read more.
Next Left Notes
July 9, 2009 - Fired workers from Scoop NYC gathered outside the trendy retail store in SoHo to protest against numerous labor violations. Read more.
The Indypendent
July 8, 2009 - Silent mannequins wore designer jeans and expensive dresses inside the display windows of Scoop NYC’s SoHo location, but the chanting crowd outside the store on July 8 mostly wore t-shirts with workers union and activist logos. Read more.
Crain's New York Business
July 7, 2009 - Former employees to file suit Wednesday, alleging trendy clothing mini-chain awarded bogus promotions to avoid paying overtime; seek $500,000 in lost wages. Read more.
Downtown Express
February 21, 2008 - The owner of Yellow Rat Bastard really was a bastard for the way he treated his employees, according to a settlement brokered last month by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Read more.
The New York Times
February 12, 2008 - Yellow Rat Bastard, a trendy apparel retailer based in SoHo, has agreed to pay $1.4 million to settle a lawsuit over unpaid wages and overtime, the state attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, announced on Monday. Read more.
Daily News Record
January 8, 2007 - In one of his final actions as the New York State attorney general, Eliot Spitzer filed two lawsuits against New York City downtown retailer Yellow Rat Bastard and its 10 affiliated stores for labor-law violations. Read more.
New York Times
December 30, 2006 - Attorney General Eliot Spitzer yesterday accused Yellow Rat Bastard, a trendy clothier in SoHo, of living up to its name: he claimed in a lawsuit that it and 10 affiliates had cheated their workers out of more than $1 million. Read more.
New York Daily News
December 30, 2006 - The millionaire owner of chain store Yellow Rat Bastard is living up to his company name, stiffing workers out of the minimum wage and hushing it up by paying them off the books, authorities said yesterday. Read more.
WCBS-TV
December 29, 2006 - The state is suing a group of stores affiliated with a popular Manhattan clothing retailer, Yellow Rat Bastard, claiming they violated labor laws and retaliated against employees who complained to authorities. Read more.
New York Post
October 27, 2006 - The owner of the Yellow Rat Bastard retail franchise is accused of living up to his brand name. Read more.
