Freelance Employees

There’s been lots of cracking down on employers who misclassify employees as ‘independent contractors.’ An independent contractor, legally speaking, is a worker who can meet the following: you 1) work without regular direction; 2) are free to provide similar services to other clients; 3) work on a temporary basis; 4) are involved in an independent [...]

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Immigration Reform: the March in DC

The following post was written by Samantha Wolfe, a junior sociology major at Ithaca College and an intern at the Workers Center: Sunday March 21 I traveled to and from D.C. with 30 other Ithacans in the span of 24 hours. We were mobilized by the leaders of the Immigrant Rights Coalition, an organization that [...]

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Community Conversation Series Continues at Cinemapolis

Cinemapolis continues its excellent series this Sunday, March 28. Bringing to Ithaca critically acclaimed films that tap into timely political and economic topics, Community Conversations is part of a renewed focus by the theater to stimulate socially relevant discussion  in our community through thought-provoking films. These Community Conversations are open to the public with discounted [...]

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Recent Immigrants at Work in Tompkins County

Most of us are descended from immigrants, whether they are recent arrivals or long-time North Americans. The History Center at 401 East Martin Luther King, Jr. Street (aka State Street) has an interesting panel this Thursday, March 25, at 5:30 about our more recent immigrant neighbors. The Workers’ Center colleague Geovanny Trivino of the NYS [...]

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The Scales of Justice

or, Why You Should Always Tip Your Pizza Driver from our trusty friend Eric Byrd, Community Union Organizer Sometime back in the second century BC, at the start of the Roman Empire, unscrupulous Roman business owners noticed that certain of their employees were receiving tips from their customers… and they didn’t like it.  The business [...]

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More Movies

Thanks to the Loyal Reader who expressed enjoyment over a February post about the AFL-CIO ‘Working Class Heroes’ film recommendations. I’m including more today. Feel free to send reviews of these films or to add suggestions about your favorite Working Class Heroes films. Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980, Michael Apted) Sissy Spacek won the 1982 Oscar [...]

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A New Book

We’ve received a new book at the Workers’ Center, Lisa Dodson’s The Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy. Dodson, now a sociology professor at Boston College, has been an obstetrical nurse, a union activist and the director of the Division of  Women’s Health for the state of Massachusetts. When Dodson began her [...]

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Updates on WC Projects

Many thanks to the Ithaca Journal for their recent follow-up article about Amber Little and TJ Goehner, two of the former Cost Cutter stylists. If you haven’t read it,  please take a moment: http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100308/NEWS01/3080362/Former-salon-employees-turn-lemons-to-lemonade ——————————————————————————————- The Listening Project is something new that the Workers’ Center is working on. Our goal is to learn about the [...]

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Small Claims Court

Last Thursday a Workers’ Center client, Arthur Whitman, and I went to Small Claims Court in an effort to retrieve unpaid wages. Luckily for Arthur, his suit against City Health Club, 402 West Green Street in Ithaca, was successful: City Health’s owner agreed to pay Arthur the $2,301.04 owed him. Here’s what we usually suggest [...]

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Worker Awarded $2301.04 in ‘Wage Theft’ Case in Ithaca Small Claims Court

(Ithaca) Workers rights in Tompkins County took a another step forward on March 4th, 2010 as City Judge Judith Rossiter ruled in favor of a former employee of City Health Club, located at 402 W. Green Street, Ithaca, NY. The judgment, which totaled $2301.04, was decided in Small Claims Court without objection from the health [...]

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