Since announcing the Human Rights Zone on October 25, 2008 the United Workers has conducted a survey of 147 workers on working conditions and poverty wages at the Harbor. Phillips, Cheesecake Factory and M&S Grill stood out as the three worst employers for stealing worker tips, not paying workers for all hours worked, harassing women workers, disrespecting workers and pay poverty wages.
Here's what the workers said in the survey, and why they say that these are the three worst Inner Harbor employers...
United Workers
Low-wage workers leading the way to poverty's end.
http://unitedworkers.org
Human Right to Work with Dignity
Poverty wages
"I come home really tired after a day at work, and when I see my check I get depressed. How is possible that I can’t get a house after working so hard for so many years?" said a cook at Cheesecake who has been paid a poverty wage for more than a decade at the same job.
"I don’t make enough money with just one job and sometimes I have worked over 24 hours straight between three jobs at three different employers," said a worker who works at M&S Grill.
"They punched me out of the time clock. I will be working and they punch me out. I was cleaning the dishes and the manager would ask ‘how long you got’ and then tells me to hurry up. But when I go to punch out, they had already punched me out. They took 10-20 min from me. This happened to me four times. It makes me want another job, but I don’t have time because of the kids and work. If I try and leave when they clock me out, they tell me I can’t. They say, ‘don’t bother coming back’ or ‘we are going to write you up," said a worker at Phillips.
Harassment
"Managers touched woman’s behind and when women workers bent over, the managers would pretend to hump the women as they walked by," said a prep cook at the Cheesecake Factory.
"I have heard that in order to get good days and good shifts, servers have to do this manager sexual favors. A server quit because this manager came back after a leave of absence. The server said she was praying to God that the manager would not come back. She told me one day that he asked her for ‘favors’ to switch to getting better shifts," said a Harbor worker.
Mistreatment
"From when I started my shift to it was over I couldn’t even eat or take a break. If they saw me eating the boss would let me have it. I could barely even go to the bathroom," said a cook at Cheesecake Factory who started at $7.00 an hour and who works up 10 hours without a break.
"On the original schedule I was scheduled. On a Saturday I asked for the day off for a death in the family. I went in to work the next day and found out I was not scheduled anymore. I had X’s for all seven days where there should of been hours. I wasn’t put for any hours and was fired for going to the funeral." said a former dishwasher at Phillips who was recently fired without notice.
"They make us buy a special red cup just to drink water or soda. If I forget the cup, they make you buy another. You can’t drink out of anything else, even a glass of water," said a worker at Phillips.
Human Right to Health Care
"I remember a co-worker threw up on the subway. They told him to take a Pepto Bismal and come in to work. He started throwing up. He asked to go home. They said for him to drink some ginger-ale. He ended up just leaving and they wrote him up the next day," said a Cheesecake Factory kitchen worker.
"You think you have the same days off and then they just change it. I have to take care of three kids who need to have doctors visits, and there were times when my kids missed doctors visits because they would change my schedule without notice," said a former Phillips worker who was paid $4,000 a year less than a living wage.
"I complained that I was sick, a stomach virus. I kept throwing up every time I ate something. I called eight hours before my shift. Then three hours before my shift and the manager said you got to bring your ass in. When I got in, I was throwing up on the deck outside. They finally said I could go home," said a worker at Phillips.
"I sprained my ankle. I slipped on the floor on a patch of oil or butter. A couple people saw it. It was really bad that night so I went to the hospital. The manager didn’t give me time to get better, they just had me working on my sprained ankle," said a former worker at Phillips.
"By the time I was eligible for benefits, I was no longer a full-time employee. Health care is expensive, but I would have got it. I can’t afford not to. The week I got laid off, I found out I had pneumonia in my lungs and all these pains in my side and went to the hospital. I have a $660 hospital bill and I owe another $410 for the ambulance," said a worker at Phillips.
"I cut my thumb at work one time and they had me sit out for half-hour. It kept bleeding so they sent me to the hospital. They paid for my hack [not even for a taxi fare], but not the doctor. I still owe $410 for the doctor. I told them it was $410. They said I was all right, it was just a scratch. I have six stitches. By now it’s probably $600," said a worker at one of the three worst employers.
"Last year I had a hair line fracture in my wrist. I got a brace from Wal-Mart, but I can’t wear it at work because I can’t carry the tray out with the brace. Last year I had a lot of pain in my wrist so I went to the hospital. The doctor told me he needed to do some more tests, but I didn’t want to stay because it was too expensive. The bill was $500-$600 for being in the hospital for 6 hours to get my wrist checked out. The brace I bought was from Wal-mart is $23," said a worker at Phillips.
"Last year I spent $600 on health care. I had walking pneumonia while I was working at M&S. My chest was hurting, so I went to the hospital. I was out for four days. There aren’t any paid sick days" said an M&S Grill cook.
Human Right to Education
"I asked to be a bar back, but they said no because I needed training but they wouldn’t give it," said a dishwasher at Cheesecake Factory who has worked over three years and is paid a wage that is $5,000 a year less than a living wage.
United Workers
Low-wage workers leading the way to poverty's end.
http://unitedworkers.org
