It's a good thing when we use real words to describe the truth. When bankers rip off people with mortgage scams, it's robbery--even if they get away with it because we have a government unwillingness to jail them. And, once and a while, a politician gets it right.
Kudos to NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for calling the wage theft of fast food workers what it is. A crime. No, a crime wave:
At a press conference at his lower Manhattan office, Mr. Schneiderman, a Democrat, linked the recent decision against Ronald Johnson of New Majority Holdings, LLC—who a judge found had rounded down workers’ hours, paid below minimum wage and failed to reimburse upkeep costs of delivery vehicles—as part of a larger string of abuses his office has uncovered. The attorney general highlighted underpayment at 21 other fast food restaurants citywide—at franchises like Domino’s Pizza and McDonald’s—affecting 16,000 workers and for which has reaped $19 million in recovered wages.
“There is an effort by thousands of businesses, unfortunately, to underpay workers what they are legally owed. And we have to go after them and treat it like a crime wave, which is what it is. It’s a crime wave. We’re talking about millions and millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “If this money was just being stolen, by some organized gang of crooks, you bet everyone would know about it and be on it. This is something we treat just as seriously.”[emphasis added]
His point is that this goes way beyond one particular fine. It's broad, it's deep, it's persistent.
It's a crime.
Maybe he needs to school the people at the Justice Department about what a crime is. And to call it like it is.