RNC Convention Workers Being Paid Below Minimum Wage
Source: Huffington Post
RNC Convention Workers Being Paid Below Minimum Wage
TAMPA, Fla. -- During these past four days at the RNC convention, janitors have worked around the clock picking up after delegates, conservative stars like Ann Coulter and Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), and the thousands of reporters in cavernous filing rooms. And many are doing so making less than minimum wage.
Carolyn Walker said she has been cleaning the convention center for 13 years. She had been making $8 per hour until a few years ago, when the cleaning contract went to another company, Cleanevent USA. The new company meant a new, downsized paycheck. She's now making minimum wage -- $7.67 per hour. But that wasn't the only hit to her wallet.
Walker said the company charges her $6 per week for uniforms. "It stinks to tell you the truth," she said. "We work very hard." It effectively means she's making less than Florida's minimum wage.
Larry Gilmore, 32, and Jean Baptiste, 27, recounted similar hits to their paychecks by Cleanevent. Baptiste said he's charged $11 per week for uniforms -- a thin blue short-sleeve shirt and dark pants.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/rnc-convention-workers-minimum-wage_n_1844836.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
sinkingfeeling
(51,280 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)nolabear
(41,915 posts)pasto76
(1,589 posts)movonne
(9,623 posts)DallasNE
(7,392 posts)Was 20+ years ago and the employer paid for the uniform but if you left their employment in less than 6 months they would deduct the cost of the uniform from your last pay check. That was pretty common back then. Not sure if that policy remains in effect today, however.
xxqqqzme
(14,887 posts)n/t
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)North Carolina is a right-to-work state as well, the lowest union membership in the country.
You think it hasn't been "100 people are standing in line for your job, sir/m'am; get back to work or there's the door"
Not a *single* union hotel in Charlotte.
truthisfreedom
(23,113 posts)They deserve better.
geardaddy
(24,924 posts)because of the union hotels.
Why go somewhere without union hotels?
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)the entrance protests by union members? What are they doing for the dues they collect, comfy collective bargaining sessions at fancy hotels with management having drinks? I see union members doing nothing much. I'm sorry to be so negative but that's my view from here.
Marthe48
(16,696 posts)n/t
Blue Owl
(49,938 posts)Yet you pay more taxes, while Mitt pays less. Behold the GOP.
mrmpa
(4,033 posts)it should be mandatory for the company to pay for what is mandated. What next? They'll charge them $10 per week for cleaning supplies.
At a decent uniform store for $312, the employee could get at least 4 pairs of pants 4 shirts, a jacket and shoes.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,790 posts)It's theft from working people to get around minimum wage laws.
reformist2
(9,841 posts)Remmah2
(3,291 posts)I wonder how much the cleaning company makes on the backs of their employees?
Stuart G
(38,365 posts)beachgirl2365
(111 posts)Who really owns the cleaning company?...... I wouldn't be surprised if the company was owned by Bain or the Koch brothers, or any of the other billionaires that are bankrolling Mittens!
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)...Ms. "Over Paid" could use Amway products to do the cleaning! Of course, she would need to purchase them herself!!
JHB
(37,133 posts)At Cleanevent, cleaning and waste management are what we do best.
Our offices around the world have managed hundreds of projects, large and small, over the past twenty years. From intimate gatherings, to community venues, and many of the worlds largest sports and leisure events.
Spotless is an international services company specialising in outsourced facility management.
With revenues of around US$ 2.8 billion and operations in 30 countries, whether you require a single service or a package of services, Spotless can assist.
We are a market leader in the strategic management and provision of facility maintenance, asset management, catering, cleaning and laundry support services.
Our 40,000 staff deliver 30 million service hours a year into industry sectors including health, defence, resources, leisure sport and entertainment, education, commerce and industry, government and retail.
With our clever ideas and talented people we can help you increase your productivity and reduce costs without compromising safety, even in the most complex workplaces. The result is more efficient, more flexible services every time.
http://www.spotless.com/About-Us/About-Us.htm
So basically an international money-siphon chintzing the people who do the actual cleaning for the benefit of the cash flows of its stockholders.
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)oh...no I'm not.
And I assume that is $7.67 BEFORE taxes? Even after taxes that luxury wage must put her in the upper ranges of the "middle class"? Right?
Not!
In the eyes of the Thugs, Bullies and Baggers, she is still overpaid...why can't she just suck it up like China and India? Maybe 50 cents per DAY?
Berlum
(7,044 posts)Disgustipating....Wake up America....
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)on the backs of workers.
I always wonder...why, workers don't stand up more...protesting or VOTING?!?
Too much ClusterFuxs "News" I guess.
rexcat
(3,622 posts)Fuck Florida!
edited for spelling
sakabatou
(42,083 posts)liberal N proud
(60,302 posts)They_Live
(3,222 posts)you'll just have to work more, take a pay cut whenever I want a pay raise, and stop all your drinking of alcohol, smoking, and cavorting.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)yours truly the Party of Greed. I hope there were no child laborers, GOD forbid, and yes I'm talking the Newt.
Botany
(70,294 posts)..... which the employees pay for out of their own pockets often give kick backs to the
companies they provide the uniforms to management personal in the form of of vacations,
condos, and cruises. A landscape company out of Cleveland, OH called Yardmaster,
used to (i don't know if they still do) hire a company that provided uniforms and cleaning
services for the employees at the rate of $12 or $20 per week ...... senior people at the
company used to get "comped" trips and vacations all the time.
This is an industry based on getting the working poor to pay for the perks of the rich.
It should be outlawed ....... if a company wants you to wear a uniform then they should
pay for it or at least let you buy and it and clean it yourself. If you have no ethics you can
make money on the poor and it is not just republicans that do ti either.
Peter1x9
(311 posts)They won't be happy until 99% of the people are penniless, while the 1% owns absolutely everything.
gtar100
(4,192 posts)Probably a question for human history. There were those who worked on the slave ships and those who kept slaves and forced them to do hard labor through threats of violence. Can't be too hard for these modern entrepreneurs to stiff workers for $6.00 or $11.00 a week for what should be a company expense, even though they pay the workers *MINIMUM* wage.
Remember, if they're willing to pay you minimum wage, they're willing to pay you less.
oldsarge54
(582 posts)Just goes to show the Republicans put the mouth where their money is. That is just the way they want it to go. Pay low, and bitch about "them" not paying taxes.