Latino immigrant workers celebrate victory

Contacts:
Patricia Montes, Centro Presente (617) 959 31 08
Yessenia Alfaro, Chelsea Collaborative (617) 889-6080 ext. 108

When: Thursday, August 20th at 11:00 am

Where: Boston City Hall, Piedmont Room

Who: Centro Presente and Chelsea Collaborative

BOSTON, MA -- Latino immigrant workers celebrate an initial victory for
workers rights. After nine months of organizing a grass-roots campaign to
recover their salaries and educate the immigrant community about their
rights as workers, a group of workers have recovered their salaries that
had been unjustly denied them by a cleaning company that subcontracted with area restaurant chain Legal Sea Foods.

More than 30 immigrant workers employed by different subcontracting
companies to clean in the Cheesecake Factory and Legal Sea Food
restaurants were paid with bad checks or not paid at all for regular and
overtime hours worked. "The workers are eager to continue the campaign to recover all of their wages, as only one company has agreed to pay so far and there are still workers who have had their rights violated," stated Yessenia Alfaro, Organizing Director of the Chelsea Collaborative and board member of the Massachusetts Jobs with Justice.

"The violation of labor rights is a systemic problem affecting all workers
in this country and immigrant workers are even more vulnerable to this
exploitation," said Patricia Montes, Centro Presente's Executive Director.
"The Department of Labor must invest resources into the enforcement of
current U.S. labor laws to dissuade employers from thinking that these
laws do not apply to their immigrant labor force. We must also highlight
that the enormous movement of immigrants to the U.S. is the result of a
global economic system that exploits the rights of workers in their own
countries. We need an economic dynamic that respects the labor rights and dignity of all workers including immigrant workers."

Patricia Montes
Executive Director
Centro Presente
17 Inner Belt Road
Somerville,MA 02143
617-629 47 31 Ext. 211