Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Voices That Must Be Heard" Articles Description An account of the resource The Independent Press Association (IPA) translates articles from the ethnic press (when necessary) and distributes them via web and fax newsletter to mainstream and ethnic press, government offices, nonprofits, and interested individuals. Voices That Must be Heard was designed by the Independent Press Association staff in New York City in response to the horrifying events of September 11. After Sept. 11th, Voices focused on the South Asian, Arab and Middle Eastern communities in New York. Since February 2002, the project has expanded, selecting articles from the broad range of ethnic and community newspapers throughout the city. Here, the Archive has preserved the Voices collection from its inception until November 2002. VTMBH Article VTMBH Article: Edition 18 VTMBH Article: Article Order 5 VTMBH Article: Title New York Attorney General forces employer to pay back wages to seven "illegal" Mexicans VTMBH Article: Author Ana Maria Ramirez VTMBH Article: Publication Hoy VTMBH Article: Original Language Spanish VTMBH Article: Translator Telesh Lopez VTMBH Article: Section briefs VTMBH Article: Blurb VTMBH Article: Keywords VTMBH Article: Body Seven Mexicans who worked at Café Liberty, which closed as a consequence of September 11th, received checks yesterday for their last weeks wages. After a three month investigation, the New York State Attorney General forced Kevin Kim, owner of Café Liberty, on Liberty Street, to pay $7,172.43 he owed seven of his employees for time worked at his establishment and for cleaning Café Seaport, another of Kims businesses, after September 11th. According to Degelmo Baldovinos, Antonio Rodriguez, Oscar Delgado, Nicolas Rodriguez, Javier Rodriguez, Jose Rolando and Octavio De La Rosa, Kim always paid them weeks late and after he closed his business, he did not pay them for the last weeks. The employees looked for help at the el Centro de Trabajadores Latino, (the Manhattan-based Latino Workers Center) the organization which filed the complaint with the Attorney Generals office. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said he understood that business owners in Lower Manhattan suffered many losses because of the terrorist acts, but this does not justify not paying for hours they worked. Spitzer added that this case is one of several cases his office settled in the last three years concerning supermarkets employers who did not paid their employees. It is the same message for all businesses owners: employees deserve to get paid for the hours they have worked, and we do not accept any excuses. Showing his check, Baldovinos, who worked five years at Café Liberty, praised the Attorney Generals labor to recuperate their wages, but said that Kim still owed them for overtime. They paid us for the last four weeks, but we wanted all the money. We were exploited for four years and we will continue to fight with el Centro. Baldovinos, who is now unemployed, said that for many years they worked 12 hours, six days a week for $220 a week. De la Rosa added that they did not denounce the Korean owner of Café Liberty because they needed the employment and feared being deported. We were afraid of complaining because we are illegal immigrants. I have four children to support. We like to work. He added that when he started working with Kim he earned $220 a week. He probably had problems, said he would pay us what the law said, $5.15 or $6 per hour with overtime. Also, he said that he would give us a half an hour for lunch, but we never took it because as soon as we were going to take it, he would send us to do something else. Monica Santana, executive director of el Centro, said they were satisfied with the Attorney Generals work. Now we are fighting for the extra hours, because many of them worked there more than four years. We rely on what state law says: an employee has the right to claim wages not paid from the last six years, extra wages or minimum salary…there are so many employers violating laws that many times it is impossible to do everything we must do. In this case, he owes some employees almost VTMBH Article: Line Breaks 1 VTMBH Article: Date 2002-04-30 VTMBH Article: Thumb VTMBH Article: Article File VTMBH Article: Hit Count 113 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource New York Attorney General forces employer to pay back wages to seven "illegal" Mexicans 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. article Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-04-30