“Most low wage workers suffer from wage theft.” This declaration by wage lawyer James Bhandary-Alexander was the opening statement at a powerful one-day conference held on  Nov. 22 at Gateway Community College in New Haven.

The conference brought together activists from many organizations, and highlighted the work of Unidad Latina en Accion, which works exclusively with non-documented Latinos. Several of those immigrants were also active at the conference.

An inspiring film by independent filmmaker AKU entitled “Injustice in Heaven,” introduced the story of Gourmet Heaven, a restaurant in New Haven that was found guilty of wage theft, primarily through the activism of ULA, and with the full cooperation of New Haven police. At the restaurant, said ULA leader John Jaire Lugo, an average of $14,000 a year was stolen from its employees, who worked up to 72 hours a week.

One of the victims was an immigrant who started out as a $2 an hour farm laborer, then worked long hours at the restaurant, for more money. It took a while for him to see that he was still being exploited.

Peter Gosselin, an extremely active lawyer representing workers and unions, said that wage theft is “a business model” followed by the majority of those who hire low wage workers.

Kim Bobo, author of “Wage Theft in America,” was the keynote speaker. She denoted the many schemes employers use to steal from workers. Examples: They pay less than minimum wage; they define their workers as “independent contractors.”

The most vulnerable are most likely to be targeted, she said, undocumented immigrants, ex-offenders, moderate wage “salaried” workers who must work overtime but do not get paid for it.

Ms. Bobo is  Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice, out of Chicago. She outlines about 20 actions that activists can take.

Here are a few:

• Make sure all workers get pay stubs, that show their hours work, pay rate, OT pay, deductions, etc.
• Push for more enforcement staff, federally and in-state. In the U.S. today, only 1,000 enforcers protect the rights of millions of workers.
• Make plans to visit Wal.Mart on “Black Friday”  to protest their wage and benefits policies.
• Set up worker rights training in each religious congregation.

On the final panel of the day State Senator Gary Holder-Winfield D-10^th) and State Representative Peter Tercyak (D-26^th) urged voters to speak with the senators and representatives and remember that just causes need action. Elected officeholders must be pressured to do the right thing. Voters must demand that they not only voice support for workers, but vote for—and sponsor—bills that advance worker rights.

United Action Connecticut board president Steve Volpini represented UACT at the conference, held at Gateway Community College in New Haven.