March 25, 2008
By Kathleen Salmon
In 2006, the Retail Action Project (RAP) initiated a multi-faceted campaign to protest workplace injustices at Yellow Rat Bastard (YRB), a chain of clothing stores in the Soho neighborhood of New York.
RAP started by surveying YRB workers which revealed wage and hour violations, verbal abuse and unhealthy working conditions, such as rats in the stores. They found that YRB owner Henry Ishay violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by not awarding overtime for work weeks lasting up to 70 hours and disregarding the then-minimum wage of $6.75 an hour. New workers were found to receive as little as $5.25 an hour. These results prompted RAP to organize workers to remedy these injustices.
A project of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and a community group called GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side), RAP built a coalition of sympathetic community groups, religious organizations, workers' home communities, unions and student groups. The coalition proceeded to carry out colorful public protests and elevate their message into the media.
