What's Good with Workers Rights

[00:00:00] What's Good Ohio? I'm your host, James Hayes. This is the What's Good Ohio Podcast where

[00:00:20] we talk to the activists, organizers, visionaries and good troublemakers coming together to make

[00:00:25] our state better for everyone. No exceptions. I'm joined as always by Sarah Rodenburg from Policy

[00:00:31] Matters Ohio. What's Good Sarah? Hey James, it's so good to be here. It is a gorgeous day. We're

[00:00:38] recording this March 12th and it is like 68 degrees in sunny today in Columbus. So, okay,

[00:00:44] complain about that. With Policy Matters actually a few days after this episode is released. We are

[00:00:51] community partners actually on a documentary about universal basic income at the Cleveland

[00:00:57] International Film Festival. So, if you are in the Cleveland area at all and are looking for something

[00:01:02] to do between April 3rd and 13th there's like so many short films and full length films happening.

[00:01:11] Tickets go on sale on March 22nd for the public at 11 a.m. And yeah basically we're community

[00:01:18] partners on this really great film that digs into universal basic income what it is, how it can

[00:01:23] help people. Essentially the tagline is you know what stops poverty money. So yeah we are going to

[00:01:31] be a community partner on that and there's also just going to be a lot happening in Cleveland

[00:01:36] over that week and a half or so. So get yourselves some tickets if you are looking for something to

[00:01:43] do up north. How about with you James what's is going on? What's good at Ohio voice?

[00:01:50] Not much same old same old working with our partners. I've been really excited to support some

[00:01:55] of our partners are doing some interesting work educating voters about upcoming about the upcoming

[00:02:01] prosecutor races. No there's some work going on around makes people know about the primary coming

[00:02:06] up you know the people are voting for right now as you record this but I think it's you are listening

[00:02:10] to this will have already concluded. But also it's just edge can be about the importance of the

[00:02:14] role of the prosecutors office and what are different policies that folks should be thinking about

[00:02:19] and advocating for and knowing more about so that's been really exciting I think you know the

[00:02:25] sear where there's so much interest in presidential politics and global affairs it's nice sometimes

[00:02:33] to focus on some of the local issues that you feel a little more tactile we can wrap our hands

[00:02:38] around a little more easily so that's been cool but yeah there's a lot going on and also not much

[00:02:43] at the same time. Feeling like that's kind of a you know end of winter coming into spring vibe

[00:02:50] usually and we're we're revving up here on that note let's get into it

[00:03:08] Dr. Martin the King Jr won't say the problems of racial injustice and economic injustice

[00:03:14] cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.

[00:03:19] Today we're joined by two guests who are working on that solution by empowering workers and

[00:03:24] centering their power. The Central Higher Worker Center supports and organizes low wage immigrant

[00:03:29] workers for economic and social justice. We're joined today by Isabel Algorado a case worker

[00:03:34] in communications coordinator with the center and Claudia Cortez the director of program to talk

[00:03:40] about what's good with workers rights welcome Isabel and Claudia how are y'all doing?

[00:03:44] Oh no, doing good and you thank you for having us. Great thank you so much for having us in

[00:03:52] last chair what we do at the worker center with the community.

[00:03:56] Yeah of course and on that note can each of you we can start with Isabel just share a little bit

[00:04:01] about yourself tell us where you're from how you got into this work just give us a little background.

[00:04:07] Yeah of course so again my name is Isabel Algorado I have been working for around five years in Ohio

[00:04:14] advocating for workers and immigrants and this after moving from Puerto Rico where I was born and

[00:04:21] raised and when I became a licensed attorney there not here and I got into this job through my

[00:04:29] previous employment at a worker's side employment law firm where I received referrals from the

[00:04:35] worker center specifically Spanish speaking workers who needed assistance and this

[00:04:41] gave me the opportunity to learn about the central high worker center mission which definitely

[00:04:46] aligns with my professional personal values and I have been working for the center for almost

[00:04:54] three years now educating and advocating for central high law vision immigrant workers.

[00:05:00] I'll pass it to Claudia. Thank you Sven. Hi yes my name is Claudia Cortés and I am a native of

[00:05:08] Mexico. I was born and raised in Sonora and the Tessor Sonora Mexico after immigrating to the

[00:05:15] United States I attended the university. I have my bachelor's awards and political science and

[00:05:22] public administration from California State University and I also attained my master's degree

[00:05:29] in government of Latin American the Caribbean from Georgetown University and I have throughout

[00:05:36] my career my entire life I have dedicated to advocate for the rights of the immigrant community.

[00:05:43] I have been an organizer with the American Federation of Government employees.

[00:05:48] I led the campaign of Homeland Security TTSA AFG campaign to unionize the airport in Washington

[00:05:58] DC so from the private sector I am so proud to say that you know from that after organizing

[00:06:04] this employees they became union members and now their federal employees.

[00:06:10] I have also worked in the living wage campaign which is this two are the most the companies

[00:06:18] are the most proud of raising the minimum wage in Santa Fe New Mexico it was a success and a victory

[00:06:26] for the community from you know raising the wage the minimum wage from the minimum of eight

[00:06:34] I believe from it was from A50 to 950 to 1050 in three consecutive years so it was a victory and

[00:06:41] I'm so proud of that and I you know I'm hoping that this is going to happen you know higher.

[00:06:48] Thank you so much for having. Wow yeah thank you so much for sharing all that and it's

[00:06:54] really impressive all the experience that you bring into this work both of you are bringing

[00:07:00] into this work you're doing with the Central High Worker Center and tell me one of you's

[00:07:04] talk a little bit more about at the worker center you advocate on behalf of low wage workers

[00:07:09] immigrants in central Ohio as y'all know too often we see working class people being

[00:07:14] pitted against one another and immigrants being scapegoated for an economy that works with a few

[00:07:19] rather than the many so in that landscape what role does the Central High Worker Center play

[00:07:24] in organizing in these communities to build collective power and union power yes well you know

[00:07:31] at the worker center we recognize that the best way for workers to address this problem is

[00:07:38] through organizing we have placed several roles in providing support to the communities

[00:07:44] to help them build worker power and we also help the workers receive and recuperate the wages

[00:07:52] that they have been stolen from them you know like I said we help them build collective power union

[00:07:58] power we help the workers also you know organized mobilize and support of legislation initiatives

[00:08:07] legislative initiatives that are pro workers and we believe that indeed the workers the immigrant

[00:08:15] communities and low wage workers have been like you say scapegoating and we try very hard to

[00:08:22] educate the public and share information about how you know how the workers

[00:08:29] bring the culture bring the hard work they build a community and we also share all this experience in

[00:08:35] hopes that they're going to acquire cultural sensitivity in order to understand and support

[00:08:44] the immigrant community excellent that's so great are there any like specific things that have

[00:08:50] happened recently what are you guys currently working on well I would like to add in terms of

[00:08:57] the communities that we have built helping collecting build collective worker is that one of our

[00:09:04] biggest program is to provide no you're right in the workplace frame once out in the community

[00:09:09] and we make sure at the end to mention that there's better job opportunities for them if they're

[00:09:15] interested the majority of the workers that we train on the rights in the workplace are not part

[00:09:21] of a union and experience a lot of our workplace violations so that's another way that we have been

[00:09:28] helping the community to connect to better jobs better benefits and things like that

[00:09:34] so that's definitely one of the things that we have been working on and also supporting

[00:09:39] you know legislation that we are going to talk a little bit more further in this conversation

[00:09:44] we are always advocating for workers legislation educating the community on workers rights and

[00:09:51] telling them about union job opportunities and as you had stated we were going to talk about you

[00:09:57] know some specific legislation so two new laws came into place in 2023 in Ohio that provided

[00:10:02] expanded protections to workers who are pregnant postpartum or pumping these laws are the

[00:10:08] pregnant workers fairness act and the providing urgent maternal protections for nursing mothers act

[00:10:15] or the pump act could you guys give an overview of these two laws and how they are protecting workers

[00:10:20] work you've done with them etc. Yes definitely these are definitely great win for workers these two new

[00:10:27] laws that came into place last year and it provided expanded protections to workers who are

[00:10:34] pregnant or postpartum or pumping so the first one the pregnant workers first fairness acts

[00:10:42] requires covers employers that have 15 or more employees to provide what they call reasonable

[00:10:49] accommodation to workers non-limitation related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical

[00:10:56] conditions unless the accommodation will cause the employer and the dole partnership so the EOC has

[00:11:02] also has already provided examples for what reasonable accommodation would mean and is the ability

[00:11:11] to seat or drink water receive closer parking for example have flexible hours receive appropriately

[00:11:19] sized uniforms and safety apparel receive additional break time to use the bathroom eat rest take leave

[00:11:27] or time off to recover from childbirth and be excused from seniors activities and our activities

[00:11:34] that involve exposure to not so safe things for pregnancy we always try to remind workers that

[00:11:43] this law also protects from discrimination and retaliation as when you try to you know enforce

[00:11:50] those rights or asserts those rights and the other law is the providing origin maternal protection

[00:11:56] for nursing mothers acts that you just mentioned thanks to these law more workers will have the

[00:12:03] right to take break time and have a private space to pump breast milk during the work day

[00:12:10] and so most nursing employees now have the right to a reasonable break time to space to pump at work

[00:12:18] for up to one year after their shelters specifically employers must provide functional

[00:12:25] for pumping meal functional spaces no one can enter you know protected free from intrusion

[00:12:32] and be available as needed and most importantly cannot be a bathroom and again under this law

[00:12:38] the workers are protected from retaliation and discrimination those are basically like the general

[00:12:44] overview of this to no less wow that's amazing that's so there are so many little details in there

[00:12:51] that'll add up to mean so much for so many people can you share a little bit about how the organizing

[00:12:56] worked to get that accomplished like how is that one i'm not sure about it this one we weren't part

[00:13:04] of it but i am for sure know that a pro workers organizations and the labor movement for sure

[00:13:13] support this as well as other national pro workers' coalitions since these are federal law are a

[00:13:20] little bit different from local laws in terms of the advocacy that we can make although we

[00:13:25] submit comments and in support of other laws in not in this case specifically but we're really happy

[00:13:33] and we will definitely go and force by helping the pregnant workers that contact us to guide them

[00:13:40] through the to the right government agency because one law is enforced by the Equal Employment

[00:13:45] Opportunity Commission and the other one by the Department of Labor so that's something that we

[00:13:50] will definitely guide them to the right place and support them in the in the process

[00:13:57] and i feel like that's such an important distinction east belt two of like getting the law passed

[00:14:02] great but that is only one part of what we have to do because yeah we need to supply you know

[00:14:10] exactly what you guys are supplying to these people the ability to not be retaliated against

[00:14:15] because the other fact is even though it says you shouldn't be you're still generally people do

[00:14:20] face or type of retaliation or whatever

[00:14:23] of course that's definitely we you know it's not the same that is protected it does not

[00:14:31] means that it won't happen as you mentioned so that's where organizations like us need to support

[00:14:38] the workers in this type of situation and although we do not provide legal representation we

[00:14:44] definitely has developed connections with government agencies and employment and immigration

[00:14:49] attorneys that serve for us to better help the workers that contact us what other wins from 2023

[00:14:58] did the workers center have are there anything specific that you'd like to highlight from the last year

[00:15:04] actually yes i would like to take the opportunity this is i believe this is one of the biggest

[00:15:10] victories that we have the workers have has is a different action for labor enforcement initiative

[00:15:17] this initiative was issued and at the beginning of the year and this which allows workers to report

[00:15:24] and for labor practices and gives them the opportunity to apply for a possible legal status to

[00:15:31] go into the path of legal status and also working for me while the claim is being processed so

[00:15:37] these initiatives it's awesome because it helps to protect the workers rights hopefully you know

[00:15:44] it's a path to legal status for the workers who face exploitation harassment and abuse so we are

[00:15:52] so happy and always trying to share this information with the community that they have to take advantage

[00:15:58] of this dalle the dalle initiative that is we have been fighting for years to be able to

[00:16:04] to somehow pass a mechanism that is going to help them legalize their status and give them

[00:16:10] opportunity give opportunity for all so that's what we're finding for and we're so happy

[00:16:15] that this happened yeah another one that we want to mention is that no final rule from the

[00:16:21] DOL on employee or independent contractors under the FLSA this might reduce the risk of employees

[00:16:29] being mislabel as independent contractors i will discuss a little bit later about one of the

[00:16:35] forms of wage theft is misclassification so this new rule that actually was effective yesterday

[00:16:41] is particularly important for workers who again are misclassified and this happened to

[00:16:47] often by employees who do not want to comply with labor laws and specifically the DOL's new rule

[00:16:55] provides no guidance on how to analyze employees or independent contractor classification

[00:17:01] by providing like a detailed guidance on this so this is also a win cloud that you want to

[00:17:07] mention another one oh yes another big win is after the the issue one passed it was a great victory for

[00:17:15] workers also because now it's going to facilitate it's going to help that the race the way to

[00:17:21] higher campaign can push know to get their signatures that are being required in order to have

[00:17:28] this be placed in the ballot so as of now they need to collect they need to collect 413,000

[00:17:36] signatures and right now they have collected 660,000 signatures so we are so so happy and we are

[00:17:46] trying to support this initiative this campaign and you know I truly believe that this was able

[00:17:52] to happen in New Mexico back in 2004-05 you know now it's 20 years later I believe that Ohio has to

[00:18:01] you know has to stand up the people of Ohio have to stand up and fight for this initiative

[00:18:06] and we are here spelling I always every day we get up and thinking how can we help the community

[00:18:11] how can we help them to get a working permit how to help them to get to raise the wages and how

[00:18:19] how can we help them to be educated and exercise the rights and another win that we can mention is

[00:18:25] this successful opposition to the attempts to lower unemployment benefits we need to mention

[00:18:31] the start of workers victories locally and nationally and also you know the reproductive rights

[00:18:38] cannot also benefit women workers so I will say that that will cover all of them the other win was

[00:18:46] we have been supporting the legislation for pay staff protection that requires employees to issue

[00:18:52] a pay staff for workers so that's a very another mechanism that is it's a preventive to prevent

[00:18:57] wish tough and preventing employees to take advantage of workers and steal the wages

[00:19:04] no that's that's amazing I'm glad you all had a hell of a 2023 we need to get the DJ Khaled another

[00:19:10] one just to play after each one of the wins and another one another one well off DJ Khaled

[00:19:17] these days but then for another conversation for another conversation

[00:19:21] you talked a little bit about so many things there and earlier in the conversation you also

[00:19:40] mentioned some of the know your rights workshops you do I know in addition to that and everything

[00:19:44] you've done and you started talking about some of the stuff you've done around wage theft

[00:19:48] and that's such a central issue that affects so many people so many workers that you all are

[00:19:53] working with every day and so I just wanted to talk a little about the assistance that you provide

[00:19:58] around wage theft and also like what are some of the common forms of wage theft which

[00:20:02] our listeners know about it and how are y'all fighting and helping workers combat wage theft

[00:20:10] yes as you mentioned this is a very common problem unfortunately in our community

[00:20:16] so the common forms of wage theft that we see are related for example to minimum wage when workers

[00:20:23] are not paid the required minimum wage in the state of Ohio also when they are not paid over time

[00:20:31] when they are supposed to be paid there's some workers that are also misclassified at salary

[00:20:37] employees is not only misclassified as an independent contractor but sometimes happen that

[00:20:43] our misclassified as a salary employee just to not paid over time hours so that's another form

[00:20:50] also the hours worked out for example a worker who remain at the desk while eating lunch and

[00:20:57] regularly answers the phone and refer calls that's considered hours work and sometimes it doesn't

[00:21:04] happen and you know they are not paid for that time which will be definitely wage theft when

[00:21:10] they are not paid the tips as they are supposed to be with all the rules that it applies to that

[00:21:17] when they're misclassified as an independent contractors and on poll work and that an example for

[00:21:23] that can be when employees do not receive the payment when they are waiting to be called into work

[00:21:30] and must respond and or report within a short period of time among others forms of wage theft

[00:21:38] and the way that we help is that first with education bringing the awareness in the community

[00:21:44] with the trends that we just mentioned and also co-enforcing by supporting you know the local

[00:21:50] government agencies and the federal government agencies connecting the workers to that place

[00:21:57] and even helping sometimes with interpretation with the when they don't have interpretation services

[00:22:04] or connecting them to the right attorney for legal advice and as Claudia mentioned also the way

[00:22:11] that we fight for the or against the wage theft is supporting legislation like the Facelift

[00:22:17] Protection Act and engaging with the wage theft prevention and enforcement commission as you might

[00:22:24] know like the wage theft court in the past like in 2021 and they have been appointing commissioners

[00:22:30] to investigate these type of cases and although it takes time like Claudia and I have been very

[00:22:37] or prioritizing being engaged with them and going into their meetings because it's definitely

[00:22:43] can become an important tool for the community for the Columbus workers so I will say that's

[00:22:51] that's basically the way that we are fighting against wage theft well that sounds pretty

[00:22:56] comprehensive that sounds pretty comprehensive yeah and listeners if you didn't know about wage

[00:23:01] theft before I'm sure you do now and thank you so much for doing that work because yeah I know it's

[00:23:05] super common and the way this economy is going like you know there's always an air just about how

[00:23:09] we're rebounded and it's going great but I know in the ground a lot of folks were not feeling that

[00:23:14] and sometimes it's because their wages are literally being stolen from them by their employers

[00:23:20] as we talk about you know this year in 2024 there's so many major issues happening obviously

[00:23:27] as a presidential election there's a Senate race here in in Ohio the economy and an immigration

[00:23:33] issues are both so central and the national narratives going on right now and so I was just

[00:23:38] wondering if your reflections you know just thinking about like I didn't watch the state of the union

[00:23:42] but I did I did see some some recaps and seeing the rebuttal that was very well acted the very

[00:23:47] well acted rebuttal from Senator Katie Brett but yeah you know just there's so much going on as

[00:23:52] we're thinking about the economy and also thinking about the immigration issues and y'all are working

[00:23:57] in the center of this in Ohio and so I was just wondering how is this national narrative affecting

[00:24:02] some of your organizing or thinking about about this year if in any ways well I can I can say

[00:24:10] I mean we are an unpartisan organization nonprofit and we you know we are impartial but we do

[00:24:19] you know we do believe that we are going to be fighting this year we're going to be organizing

[00:24:26] we're going to continue to mobilize the workers to speak up to yell out loud to

[00:24:34] and I don't want to say talk about politics to you know to say what the needs are and that it is

[00:24:41] time that they pay attention to the immigrant community that they it is time that they enforce

[00:24:49] the rights that it is time that they comply with the promises and it just we will continue

[00:24:56] to organize mobilized and it is time that they pay attention to continue to pay attention in more

[00:25:03] so this year to the working people, low wage and immigrant community yeah and if I can add I

[00:25:10] would say like narrative definitely can affect but that's why it's so important the job that

[00:25:16] organizations like us and like the organizations that you work up and keep educating the community

[00:25:22] and sharing the the real information the important information that they might need to know

[00:25:28] just to be sure that they what the rights are what they can do who can they contact

[00:25:35] and that we are in the community here to support them and if I may say something we will make sure

[00:25:41] that the community we every day we will make sure that we share information that we educate

[00:25:47] them in the right and that they are informed at the time that they have to make a decision

[00:25:53] for sure for sure yeah I was just wondering because I'm sure there's a lot going on and it could

[00:26:01] impact just you know how folks are experiencing every day-to-day lives as well but in 2024 what are

[00:26:08] some of the major things that you're advocating for working around you mentioned a little about

[00:26:13] the minimum wage initiative which I am also very excited about hopefully we'll be able to vote

[00:26:18] on that in November yes yes yes we you know we are ready we are ready to to support this campaign

[00:26:26] the race of the wage Ohio campaign we are also ready to support the Starbucks workers that they

[00:26:32] continue to organize and mobilize and we are so you know so happy that finally the corporate

[00:26:41] has finally they have agreed to negotiate a framework that of the workers that have been

[00:26:48] organized and also we will be continue to support the base staff well the protect base staff

[00:26:54] protection act I believe is in the Senate and we will continue to support that because we

[00:26:59] believe it is important and preventing wage theft and that would be the campaigns that we will

[00:27:05] be supporting and also we are waiting on the Department of Labor hopefully to make a final rule

[00:27:13] that will benefit literally millions of employees a salary to employees because the proposed rule

[00:27:19] will increase the standard salary level to 35% of weekly earnings of full-time salary employees so

[00:27:29] specifically the proposed rule will guarantee over time paid what I mentioned before for most

[00:27:35] salaries employees working in all the states and territories so that's definitely something that

[00:27:40] it's fast when workers contact us again we will make sure to help them in create the awareness that

[00:27:47] hit these paths and help them to connect with the Department of Labor or unemployment attorney.

[00:27:54] What a great conversation we've had here I think that one thing that really sticks out to me is

[00:28:00] how much everything intersects with workers rights right like we were talking about all of these

[00:28:06] great new protections for pregnant people and new people with new kids and also accommodations

[00:28:14] for them that kind of reaches into disability justice right like we need to obviously there is a

[00:28:20] racial component like it really just underpins everything because it's that ability to live a

[00:28:27] dignified life and to be paid for you know the amount of work that you're doing and so really

[00:28:35] just what can we do to help you guys fight wage theft to help you guys support workers throughout

[00:28:41] the state where can we connect with you give us give us those details. Yes definitely so there's

[00:28:48] a couple ways that the community can help us fight wage theft and support workers and the first of

[00:28:54] them will be like educate ourselves and so we can help educate other people we might not be

[00:29:01] experiencing wage theft but we might know someone that is experiencing wage theft and we can

[00:29:06] tell them like hey contact the worker center or you know you can find help that might be

[00:29:12] wage theft for example or any other workplace violation so we can all help create this public

[00:29:18] awareness. Also you can refer potential wage theft basis to the Central High Worker Center

[00:29:26] or a labor agency for enforcement also helping one organization like the worker center and

[00:29:33] people can become members or volunteer with us or donate if you can. Finally I will say like engage

[00:29:41] in advocacy for workers legislation like we can speak up and support it for us like the base of

[00:29:50] act for example and just support in general by educating yourself so I will say that that

[00:29:57] does the best way to help us and we have I don't want to end with our mentioning that we created

[00:30:04] and know your rights in the workplace handbook that is free to download in our web page

[00:30:10] and Claudia and I translated it into Spanish so even for the Hispanic community they can download it

[00:30:17] for free and we discuss in more details and the handbook has even have even has like links to

[00:30:23] the website or legislation and it's a great tool at least for initial education and then if you

[00:30:32] have any other doubt definitely you can contact us. Perfect we'll be sure to include that in the

[00:30:38] show notes too so this episode will have a link to all the know your rights really anything that

[00:30:43] you guys want us to connect to this episode please let us know and we will do that. Also I will

[00:30:48] note that sometimes supporting the central worker center is very delicious because over Valentine

[00:30:53] I made a donation and I got a bunch of tamales so no just you know so you know sometimes keep an eye

[00:31:02] out for when they're doing it I think it was a special Valentine's Day thing and it was so good.

[00:31:08] Thank you for supporting me. We're glad you like it you stay.

[00:31:12] I really was that I missed out on tamales. I wish I had been paying more attention.

[00:31:17] I will catch the next the next batch for sure and thank you both so much for your time today.

[00:31:23] Really really enjoyed getting to know you both and getting to know more about the central

[00:31:28] how worker center. Really excited to follow along as y'all continue to grow.

[00:31:32] I've been a fan of y'all for a long time and it's really cool to see that y'all are still doing

[00:31:39] the good work every single day and are stronger than ever so really excited to have had you on

[00:31:45] and wishing you the best we're moving forward. Thank you so much thank you for me thank you so much for having us.

[00:32:01] As always visit whatsgoodohio.com for show notes and links and subscribe to what's good Ohio wherever

[00:32:07] you get your podcasts. We'll see you next time to keep talking about whatsgood here in Ohio.