Global Workers’ Executive Director met with staff attorneys at the Stamford Day Laborer Wage Clinic, a Project of Connecticut Legal Services, Inc. The clinic is a pilot project to address the pervasive exploitation of day laborers in Stamford, Connecticut. Day laborers is the term used for workers who wait on street corners to be picked by just about anyone for short term contract work. Often the workers have very little information about the people they are agreeing to work for putting them in a vulnerable position. Too often, fly by night employers do not pay the workers who are left scrambling to make ends meet.
The Day Laborer Clinic started two years ago to orient workers in how to file wage cases in small claims court. If the particular wage theft exceeds the $5,000 limit for small claims, or many workers are affected, the clinic will provide legal representation or refer the case. The pro-bono attorneys who conduct intakes from the tens of workers who fill the office hallways the second and fourth Wednesday each month will also accompany the workers to small claims court for the hearing. To date, the clinic has assisted over 300 workers and recovered over $200,000. The majority of claims however, face serious obstacles such as the contractors’ lack of assets, meaning there is literally no money available to pay the worker even if a judge orders it. Most of the migrant workers in Stamford originate from Ecuador and Guatemala. Global Workers looks forward to working with CT Legal Services to ensure that the day laborers that return to their home countries still have the opportunity to recover the wages stolen from unscrupulous CT employers.
Dartmouth College MLK Social Justice Award Jan. 29, 2010 Conference on Irregular Migration: Legal and Policy Perspectives, UN Millennium Hotel
Global Workers Justice Alliance. 789 Washington Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11238