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.
Worker participation was critical to the campaign’s success. In addition to attending strategy meetings, they recruited co-workers, created art to support their message and met with coalition members as well as their adversary, YRB owner Henry Ishay.
“Workers participated throughout the campaign, they built the [campaign's] base,” said Carrie Gleason, a RAP coordinator.
"Customers were extremely shocked by the labor practices of Henry Ishay. I think a lot of shoppers don't think about what workers really face," said Gleason, "A lot of the customers were really quite supportive."
While RAP used grassroots tactics to pressure Ishay, they also used the legal arena. RAP had alerted the Labor Bureau of the NY State Attorney General's Office to possible legal violations at YRB. As a result, the Attorney General's office filed two wage-hour lawsuits against the chain on the workers’ behalf. In a big victory last February, the cases concluded with a $1.4 million settlement to almost 1,000 past and present workers.
"It’s not ever one tactic that works in a campaign. But combining legal action with worker action with community action--each element has its own point of leverage," Gleason, "You build power in all these different ways."
The efforts of RAP and the workers developed a powerful resource for the future--themselves. Many workers developed their leadership skills and created a strong network of activists. RAP explains that it will continue to involve the YRB worker community in future public campaigns.
Gleason said, "This was an extremely successful campaign. It really blossomed and enabled us to achieve our goals of fair wages and working conditions, beyond that we secured job security, layoff protection. Workers have really found a sense of power."