Tag: wage theft

During COVID-19, IWW Offers Wage Theft Support to Non-Members

During the COVID-19 global pandemic, the Ottawa-Outaouais IWW has opened up wage theft support to all non-members in the region. The decision has come after multiple years of dealing with employers who have become comfortable withholding holiday, overtime, termination and severance pay, or outright not paying employees for their work. While we have seen this prevalent prior to an international public health crisis, we know now is a critical time for working people to be properly compensated.

Learn more about what wage theft is and how to get involved with the IWW with wage recovery here.

Ottawa-Outaouais IWW Rescinds Protest and Boycott of CAA

Following a meeting on September 9, 2014 with representatives of CAA North & East Ontario, the Ottawa-Outaouais General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is calling off actions targeting the automotive insurance group.

The dispute began when one of CAA NEO’s independently owned and operated contractors, Glen’s Towing, failed to provide overtime and termination pay to former employee Deepan Budlakoti. He was also provided with a fraudulent Record of Employment and T-4 that didn’t account for all the hours that he worked, as it did not include the many overtime hours worked (paid out at the regular non-overtime rate), attributed to a “commission” line on his pay stubs.

Until recently, Glen’s Towing has operated in the Ottawa area as one of CAA’s contractors. The IWW has learned that CAA NEO ceased contracting with Glen’s Towing in July 2014. The IWW is pleased with the outcome of our meeting with CAA NEO representatives.

Picket actions took place at CAA locations in Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario. These actions informed the public about this issue; a meeting between CAA NEO and the IWW took place shortly thereafter. The IWW has agreed to end actions targeting CAA NEO given their demonstration of social responsibility in this matter. The IWW is satisfied that CAA NEO has ceased contracting with Glen Comeau, an employer who routinely violates the Employment Standards Act, and with other measures that CAA has taken to remedy the situation and effect a settlement of this dispute.

However, Mr. Budlakoti’s fight continues. The fraudulent Record of Employment that Glen’s Towing provided Mr. Budlakoti, fails to document any of the overtime hours worked. This has caused Mr. Budlakoti’s Employment Insurance application to be denied due to insufficient hours worked, resulting in further financial hardship. I f all hours worked were properly attributed, Mr. Budlakoti’s EI claim would not have been denied for this reason.

Glen Comeau, who also operates multiple towing companies including 514 Towing in Montreal, continues to avoid all contact with the IWW and the Ontario Ministry of Labour. The IWW is continuing to support an employment standards claim against the employer, Glen’s Towing, and continues to seek an outcome that will make Deepan whole with respect to his EI entitlement by providing him with proper documentation of the hours that he worked.

The IWW wishes to thank Deepan’s supporters in the Ottawa-Outaouais region, as well as members of the Montreal and Toronto IWW branches for their part in organizing actions.

The IWW is a member-driven organization that is willing and dedicated to achieving justice for working people. For more information about the IWW please visit www.ottawaiww.ca.

Contacts:
Ottawa-Outaouais IWW Secretary, ott-out@iww.org;
Deepan, member, Ottawa-Outaouais IWW, 613-265-1364

Ministry Issues Cheques For Unpaid Wages Case

Ottawa-Outaouais General Membership Branch
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
MEDIA RELEASE

February 20, 2013
For Immediate Release

OTTAWA—Fifteen months is a long time for workers depending on minimum wage to wait for justice.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour has issued cheques to IWW members Stephen Toth and Brandon Wallans, owed unpaid wages, in response to a long and arduous battle with a holdout employer.

“This satisfactory settlement is a message to other Ottawa employers that respecting their workers and paying them their wages is not optional,” said Ahmed, an IWW spokesperson.


Stephen and Brandon are very happy with the result and look forward to helping other workers defend their rights on the job and fight wage theft.

Wage theft is a growing trend among bosses who decide not to pay some or all of the wages earned by their employees. These thefts can be fought by workers most effectively when they unite and take action, not just through formal legal channels but also by hitting the picket lines.

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For more information, please send an email to ott-out@iww.org

LABOUR MINISTRY ORDERS CAMEO SALON (A.K.A HYPE SALON) TO PAY STOLEN WAGES

Ottawa-Outaouais General Membership Branch
Industrial Workers of the World
MEDIA RELEASE
May 11, 2012
For Immediate Release

OTTAWA— After months of picketing by the Ottawa-Outaouais Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and community allies, a very stubborn boss who has failed to pay her ex-workers has been issued two Orders to Pay Wages by the Ontario Ministry of Labour (Order # 80016401-OP and Order # 80016403-OP).

Cameo Salon & Spa Ltd., and the principal operating the business, Ms. Claudette Wilkinson Fagan, has been ordered to pay our members, Stephen Toth and Brandon Wallans, $1,211.52 and $1,769.56 respectively for hours worked at the minimum wage rate, plus 4% vacation pay. The decision, issued April 24, 2012, followed an investigation launched in late 2011 and a hearing with the parties held on March 29, 2012.

The Ministry’s investigation revealed violations of the Employment Standards Act and ordered payment of the stolen wages within 30 days of the date of the decision. The Ottawa-Outaouais IWW stresses that failure by the employer to comply with the Orders by the end of this period will be responded to with an immediate resumption of picketing of the Bank Street salon. Picketing will continue to highlight the salon’s labour practices as well as the growing trend of wage theft to the public, until such point that payment is made in trust to the Ministry or until the salon’s assets are seized and liquidated.

Ms. Fagan responded to one of the claims of wage theft by alleging that her career in hairdressing begun when “someone helped me”, “…presumably under a similar ‘no-wage’ arrangement”, as put in the decision by the Ministry following their investigation into Stephen Toth’s claim.

To the wage theft of Brandon Wallans, Ms. Fagan responded by stating that he chose to accompany his friend, Mr. Toth, while he was at the salon and that he “volunteered his services because he had nothing better to do”, a submission that was not accepted as credible by the investigator in his decision. This was in light of significant evidence provided by the union of an employment relationship, including that he had a business card, keys to the salon, attended staff meetings and that on at least one occasion closed the salon at the employer’s request.

The Ottawa-Outaouais IWW has heard excuses by wage-stealing bosses in the past. However, none have been as creatively constructed as Ms. Fagan’s.

Wage theft is a growing trend among bosses who decide to keep some or all of the wages a worker has earned. These thefts can be fought by workers most effectively when they unite and take action, both through formal legal channels as well as by hitting the picket lines.

The degree of police harassment of our picket lines and of our community allies is also unprecedented in this matter. Given the Ministry’s determination that Ms. Fagan and Cameo / Hype Salon have violated the Employment Standards Act, we call on the police to uphold the law for workers and not just for the bosses.

Finally, we call on members of the Ottawa Police Services to respect our constitutionally-protected rights of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association and to refrain from unlawfully harassing any IWW pickets in the future.

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For more information, please send an email to info@ottawaiww.org

SALON WORKERS PICKET BOSS WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS

Ottawa-Outaouais General Membership Branch
Industrial Workers of the World

MEDIA RELEASE
January 10, 2012

For Immediate Release

SALON WORKERS PICKET BOSS WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS

OTTAWA—Two workers who helped launch a new hair salon in Ottawa in November went without wages this Christmas because their boss did not pay them. The Industrial Workers of the World will continue to picket the salon this week.

Management at Hype Unisex Salon and Spa, located on 386 Bank St., refuses to pay Brandon Wallans and Stephen Toth the $3,600 they are owed for 7 weeks of work.

Hype Owner, Claudette Wilkinson Fagan, has not responded to a demand letter from the workers’ lawyer and refuses repeated requests by the workers and their union to negotiate a settlement or discuss the matter.

“Wage theft in today’s economy is common in Ottawa or anywhere in Ontario,” said Ahmed, secretary of the IWW branch in Ottawa. “Brandon and Stephen are experiencing hardship because of Hype’s refusal to do the right thing. Everyone has the right to get paid for work done.”

The Ottawa-Outaouais IWW will continue holding picket lines at 386 Bank Street and invites the media to speak with the workers and hear their story.

More information about wage theft in Ontario can be found at OttawaIWW.ca

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For more information, please send an email to ott-out@iww.org

IWW Pickets Bank Street Hair Salon

When Fellow Worker Brandon Wallans quit his job along with Fellow Worker Stephen Toth at Hype Unisex Salon and Spa because he realized he wouldn’t get paid for several weeks worth of work, and started picketing the business alone, his ex-boss told him she would bring a friend of hers to put an end to his one-man picket.

Brandon did not have to wait much longer before an aggressive police officer showed up and started harassing him, writing him tickets for breaking a city by-law before crumpling them up and stuffing them into the fellow worker’s jacket. When from across the street, an ally from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers National building approached Brandon to offer him coffee, he was charged with obstruction of justice. This was the beginning of the wage theft case that the Ottawa-Outaouais General Membership Branch is now fighting on the picket line.

Fellow Workers and community allies have held numerous pickets outside Hype on Bank Street over the last few weeks highlighting the business’ labour practices as well as the rising wage theft incidences across Ontario to the neighbourhood. They have put up with several incidences of police intimidation designed to disrupt their legal and constitutionally-protected picket line.

In the last couple of weeks Hype has been investigated and fined by the city health inspectors for not following proper code, and more recently has been put under an investigation by the Ontario Ministry of Labour in response to complaints and the union pickets. The Ottawa-Outaouais IWW will continue to press for the wages owed to Brandon and Stephen through direct action.

Ottawa IWW Picket Wins $2,500

From the Industrial Worker

Ottawa-Outaouais IWW members and community supporters won $2,500 owed to member Miguel Yanes Lobaina.

Lobaina, who had worked as a dishwasher before being fired, had won a Superior Court of Canada ruling on March 5 ordering Hooley’s restaurant to pay him, but it refused to comply.

On August 6, 20 picketers marched in front of its doors, with IWWs holding signs saying, “Pay What’s Owed.” It took less than an hour for the owner to ask for a meeting with the picketers and sign a cheque to pay Lobaina. It didn’t bounce either.