Wage Theft: Improper Pay for Quality Work

On November 18th, New Labor launched its Caravan Against Wage Theft. The caravan is a march through New Brunswick and neighboring towns in an effort to raise awareness for the pressing issue of wage theft. The march is a part of the Interfaith Worker Justice’s Day of Action which spreads information about issues regarding workers as well as potential new laws and bills that could protect them from harm in the future.

Wage theft, when employers refuse to pay their employees, has become an issue that completely hinders those in poverty from simply living and people like Anna Barcy with the New Labor organization attempt to help those in need fight for what they deserve.

The New Brunswick based organization New Labor is fighting wage theft, and making sure that employers pay their workers what they’re owed. The organization is a workers’ center, not a typical union, but it still is dedicated to upholding the rights of workers and forging new laws and rights for them based on their needs. Wage theft has become a pressing issue for many in the area, making it difficult for workers to trust that they will be compensated fairly for the work being completed.

“What we do all the time is process different wage theft claims and push employers to pay their workers when they haven’t,” said Anna Barcy, who works with New Labor. She says that while New Labor always process these claims throughout the year, the day of the caravan is the time nationally where they mobilize around the topic.

The caravan gathers up some of the more notable wage theft claims New Labor received recently and uses it as a guide to see which companies need to be confronted about their practices. Barcy noted that one particular group of workers confronted their employer during the caravan, demanding that they be paid for the amount of work they had completed weeks before. At the time of writing, these people had still not been compensated. They utilized the caravan movement to approach their employers and demand for a change.

New Labor and Barcy continue to work with underrepresented workers across the state in an effort to fight for worker equality. She says that these marches will continue to occur annually and as more claims come into New Labor for wage theft, the organization will continue to press these bosses until justice is served.