THESE OWNERS SHOULD ALL GO OUT OF BUSINESS,I HOPE THEY WIN AND BANKRUPT THIS GUY.SHAME ON YOU MR KIM.GIVING JOBS TO ILLEGALS OVER AMERICANS.
THE NEIGHBORS ALSO SHOULD BE DEMANDING THEY HIRE AMERICANS.
SHAME ON THEM ALSO.IF WE AS AMERICANS ALLOW THESE SCUM TO STEAL OUR JOBS WE DESERVE IT.
Kensington grocery store workers who charge the owner illegally underpaid them for years are fighting back - and getting many neighborhood residents on their side.
Ten workers at Golden Farm charged in a lawsuit they were paid just $4.86 an hour for 72-hour weeks. Owner Sonny Kim started paying minimum wage after the workers started organizing with New York Communities for Change and filed the suit last year, but has refused to hand over back pay.
“We are looking to get back all the years he stole from us,” said Nicandro Martinez-Rodriguez, 48, who said he has worked in the produce department for 12 years - most of it making $350 a week for 12 hour days, 6 days a week.
Many Kensington residents and longtime Golden Farm shoppers have backed up the workers, holding protests at the store, signing petitions, going door to door in the neighborhood, and spreading the word online.
Some are refusing to shop at the store - and sending Kim notes telling him they won’t be back until he pays up - while others continue to shop there, but make sure to wear buttons saying they support the workers when they go in.
“I just don’t feel comfortable continuing to shop there knowing that the workers weren’t being respected,” said Brian Pickett, 33, an adjunct professor who has also handed out info sheets to customers leaving the store.
“I’d like to resume shopping there once the owner accepts his responsibility.”
Manager Steve Kim insisted the store has always paid minimum wage. “We keep American rules and regulations 100%” he said. “The Spanish guys don’t know English writing and reading. How would they know American labor law?”
The workers are also pushing for a contract that includes paid sick time and other benefits, which Kim said the store can’t afford.
“They are not Wall Street office workers or chemical engineers. They are just minimum wage workers. We pay over minimum wage. That’s it,” he said, adding only a
“small minority” of customers have complained.
One of the people who has complained is Eleanor Rodgers, 34, a receptionist, who wears a button when she goes into the store and has gone door knocking to alert other neighbors’ to the workers’ plight, as well as spreading the word to other moms on the playground.
“We’re really fond of the shop, but we’re really horrified to hear how badly the workers are paid,” she said. Workers and neighbors are planning a rally at the store Saturday.
Roberto Ramirez, 40, a worker at Golden Farm for six years, said encouragement from customers helped employees take a stand.
“They treated us like slaves,” he said. “I am seeing that the community is supporting us...They are the ones who had actually been motivating us to do this.”
edurkin@nydailynews.com
Ten workers at Golden Farm charged in a lawsuit they were paid just $4.86 an hour for 72-hour weeks. Owner Sonny Kim started paying minimum wage after the workers started organizing with New York Communities for Change and filed the suit last year, but has refused to hand over back pay.
“We are looking to get back all the years he stole from us,” said Nicandro Martinez-Rodriguez, 48, who said he has worked in the produce department for 12 years - most of it making $350 a week for 12 hour days, 6 days a week.
Many Kensington residents and longtime Golden Farm shoppers have backed up the workers, holding protests at the store, signing petitions, going door to door in the neighborhood, and spreading the word online.
Some are refusing to shop at the store - and sending Kim notes telling him they won’t be back until he pays up - while others continue to shop there, but make sure to wear buttons saying they support the workers when they go in.
“I just don’t feel comfortable continuing to shop there knowing that the workers weren’t being respected,” said Brian Pickett, 33, an adjunct professor who has also handed out info sheets to customers leaving the store.
“I’d like to resume shopping there once the owner accepts his responsibility.”
Manager Steve Kim insisted the store has always paid minimum wage. “We keep American rules and regulations 100%” he said. “The Spanish guys don’t know English writing and reading. How would they know American labor law?”
The workers are also pushing for a contract that includes paid sick time and other benefits, which Kim said the store can’t afford.
“They are not Wall Street office workers or chemical engineers. They are just minimum wage workers. We pay over minimum wage. That’s it,” he said, adding only a
“small minority” of customers have complained.
One of the people who has complained is Eleanor Rodgers, 34, a receptionist, who wears a button when she goes into the store and has gone door knocking to alert other neighbors’ to the workers’ plight, as well as spreading the word to other moms on the playground.
“We’re really fond of the shop, but we’re really horrified to hear how badly the workers are paid,” she said. Workers and neighbors are planning a rally at the store Saturday.
Roberto Ramirez, 40, a worker at Golden Farm for six years, said encouragement from customers helped employees take a stand.
“They treated us like slaves,” he said. “I am seeing that the community is supporting us...They are the ones who had actually been motivating us to do this.”
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