Cintas loses living wage ordinence, must pay $1.65 million to workers

Here's some great news for working families in Northern California

From our friend Elana at DailyKos (Click the link to recommend or comment on the story):

Living wage win! Workers get 1.65 mil in unpaid wages
by Elana Levin of UNITE HERE
Great news! The California Supreme Court has ordered anti-union employer the Cintas Corporation to pay hundreds of workers the $1.65 MILLION they were owed for their backbreaking labor in industrial laundries. By violating the city of Hayward's living wage regulations, Cintas illegally underpaid Northern California workers for years. Living wage regulations like Hayward's require the city and certain firms with large city contracts to pay wages that reflect the local cost of living including a dollar extra per hour if the employer doesn’t provide health benefits.

(Video clip is Springstein's version of traditional work song "Pay Me My Money Down")

This is a huge win not just for the Cintas workers who will finally be paid the money they are owed but for but for the living wage movement as a whole. At one point in their suit Cintas’ lawyers claimed that living wage laws were unconstitutional. When workers filed the suit in 2003, it was one of the first attempts to enforce a living wage law through the courts. As plaintiff Francisa Amaral said:

"For five long years, Cintas refused to give us what was rightfully ours," said Francisca Amaral, one of the suit's plaintiffs. "They told us that we would get nothing. They spent millions of dollars to try to deny us our rights. The decision shows that workers can get justice and get what we've earned through our hard work."

Why would a company spend money on lawyers to fight paying its workers a living wage? Wait. Don’t answer that. That was rhetorical. Though I honestly just don’t get it. I guess it’s my family values talking here.

Anyway, the Court’s decision allows more than 200 Northern California laundry workers to enforce a landmark judgment by the Alameda County Superior Court that was affirmed earlier this summer by the California Court of Appeal, which is believed to be the one of the largest living wage awards in U.S. history and strengthens cities’ ability to enforce local labor standards.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Cintas workers have a similar pending class action case for violations of the city’s living wage. Over the past few years, questions have also been raised about Cintas’s history of compliance with living wage laws in Marin County and Santa Monica, California, as well as in Dayton, Ohio, and Madison, Wisconsin.

If you’ve been reading my posts on Dkos (and other folks too) you’d know that Cintas has a history of violating worker protection laws. The company settled an overtime case brought by delivery drivers in California for more than $10 million in 2002. Since then, thousands of drivers across the country have joined a national overtime lawsuit against Cintas.

• For more on Cintas check out: uniformjustice.org and MakeCintasSafe.info.
• For more on the living wage movement check out the PBS’s POV series and podcasts here.
• Progressive States Network has written about various state policies too.

Elana Levin is an Assistant Director of Communications for UNITE HERE, a labor union representing 465,000 workers in the hotel, food service, gaming, laundry, apparel and textile industries. You can read more of Elana's work at DailyKos by clicking here

Florida: Teacher fired for "Wizardry"

No, he didn't wear anything inappropriate, didn't summon up a demon nor did he sacrifice a student. In an attempt to get his students attention, he made a toothpick disappear. Now a fellow who would probably have been a really good teacher had his job go the way of the toothpick.


Link to Windows Media Video

From TampaBay10.com

Land 'O Lakes, Florida -- The stories in the news about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students have been overwhelming. There was even a substitute teacher in New Port Richey who got in trouble after investigators say she had a relationship with an underage student.

Well, another Pasco County substitute teacher's job is on the line, but this time it's because of a magic trick.

The charge from the school district — Wizardry!

Substitute teacher Jim Piculas does a 30-second magic trick where a toothpick disappears then reappears.

But after performing it in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes, Piculas said his job did a disappearing act of its own.

"I get a call the middle of the day from the supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, 'Jim, we have a huge issue. You can't take any more assignments. You need to come in right away,'" he said.

When Piculas went in, he learned his little magic trick cast a spell that went much farther than he'd hoped.

"I said, 'Well Pat, can you explain this to me?' 'You've been accused of wizardry,' [he said]. Wizardry?" he asked. (Read the entire story)

Wizardry, can you believe it? Now I know Florida is a tad on the backwards side, I can say that I have relatives there, but fucking wizardry?????

If the people running the schools down there are accusing teachers of wizardry I can only imagine what the students must turn out like.

Found via Code Breaker at Daily Kos

American Axle strikers face a cruel police force, WTF is going on in Detroit?

I had to grab this article from fellow writer Bendygirls diaries at Daily Kos on 4/25/08

UPDATE: What the F&*K is Going On In Detroit

by Bendygirl

Fri Apr 25, 2008 at 06:15:46 PM PDT

Yesterday, families and strikers mounted a rally in Detroit to highlight American Axle's desire to screw their workers while continuing to reap huge profits and dishing out million dollar bonuses to CEO and other executives.

And despite more than 37,000 workers off their jobs, 3650 American Axle Workers on strike, more than 30 plants shut AND 3 different countries affected, we still have nothing From Obama, Clinton and Mr. No-Right-To-Work-tax-your-benefits-anti-EFCA-McSame.

Not a F U C K I N G Word. Not one!

So, the union and other allies, families and friends, put together a rally. And then things went horribly bad.

• Bendygirl's diary :: ::

So, I got this e-mail this morning (really early) and I needed to share and vent at the same time.

I went to another American Axle rally for Rich today. It was a great success through most of it. I was astounded and appauled by this site right before us.

This woman, an AAM employee, asked to "jay walk" along with other women. As she did a Detroit officer put her in a "chokehold" and litterally dragged her backwards to his cop car and arrested her. I was completely amazed. This woman is an older lady - I am told she is 65 with a heart condition - and she didn't do ANYTHING!

Now, ya all know me. I am not one to keep quiet and I told Officer McGain this (the officer who did this to her). I am writing papers, tv stations and any parties connected with the Detroit Police force.

But don't take my word for it, take a look at the pictures

This isn't the time of Pinkertons killing strikers and locked out workers.

This is the 2nd incident with Detroit Police; police represented by a union as well. The first incident happened earlier in the strike.

Traditional media barely works. They haven't been covering this, at all. But that means that WE have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of American Axle workers. Our neighbors, friends, countrymen. Isn't it time to make a difference?