Slope restaurants cited for underpaying workers

Mamacita wrote: WTF.. does anyone even care about:

Coco Roco (Smith St.): $172,880.35

Coco Roco: $214,672.16

I HATE that place, their paella had so many rocks in it I chipped a molar and had to go to the dentist to fill it. It was a dried up nasty plate of food too, worst experience ever. HAte Hate hate that place. I even gave them a second chance and they still sucked.....

Alright... rant over...had a moment there....
:P

Definitely there are other worse offenders, but Bogota is the only one that joined this thread to try to do damage control, while at the same time completely avoiding the specific issue that the thread is about..

Jamzer wrote: [quote=squindar][quote=Jamzer]I also plan to not eat at any of these places any time soon. There are a TON of good restaurants that are not on this list.

how about instead of boycotting them, go eat there and ask your server if the owners are complying with the wage laws yet. i.e. let them know their patrons and neighbors are still checking up on them, when the department of labor has moved on to other neighborhoods.

Oh come on and please be real. I do not have the time to inverview every worker at every restaurant I go to. I have the results of this investigation to guide me. I did not say I was boycotting these restaurants, just not going back any time soon. I don't eat at most of these places anyway.

Either way - I don't think of it as a boycott. I see it as rewarding those places that comply with the law. I can eat anywhere I like. And consider this: if I'm taking my business to the places that comply with the law, and other people who feel the same as me do so too, then those restaurants will get busier and need more workers. So it should even out in the end.

If you don't have the time to interview every worker, then how do you know about the businesses that you will frequent?

There is absolutely no reason for restaurants to underpay their workers, and I say this as a lifelong restaurateur. Taxes and rent are what they are, if you can't pay and still put a good product on the table then you don't belong in the business. Period.

Good, honest food isn't cheap, try as we might to convince ourselves otherwise.

Speaking as a site admin, without going details, I can confirm that it was either him (one of Bogota's two founders) or someone who has access to his account info in key places elsewhere on the web.

So unless he's had his login info stolen for other major sites (doubtful) I have every confidence that he is who he stated he is.

This may be why the less than average iced coffee now costs as much as Starbucks at the Bagel World. Coupled with how consistently they screw up simple orders, I think I'll skip them from now on.

whynot_31 wrote: Or,
1. Abandon minimum wage, which isn't enforced anyway.
2. Enforce min wage laws.

The present "method" seems to depend on the public taking action as a result of bad press. To me, it seems flawed on several levels.

Some countries have their citizens pay their government to effectively enforce min wage laws, ours is not one of them.

You forget option 3, which is a strong union collective bargaining agreement which would lead to non-government enforcement...But given how the legal framework in this country is terrible for the creation of useful unions that protect their members collective interest as opposed to those of the union leadership (Look at the UFT for the most recent example), I'm not sure if this is good for anyone, much less the workers themselves...

Also, you forget option 4, which is cracking down on illegal labor (or providing some method for regularizing the work performed by undocumented workers) so that they pay taxes and are guaranteed at least the minimum wage (Note I didn't say a fair wage), which would push wages for all lower-wage workers up...

Everyone should remember that if the trajectory of their lives was 1 degree to the right or left, that they would be the ones delivering the food, rather than paying for it...

re: Option 3. Precisely. Oversupply of labor, combined with the low skill set required to do the work (note: just because something is low skill does not mean it is not a hell of a lot of work).

re: Option 4. Undocumented immigrants are the backbone of the NYC economy. Mass deportation isn't going to happen (and shouldn't). At present, we seem to be moving toward a guest worker system. For example in Saudi Arabia, huge numbers of the workers in the oil fields are not citizens and unable to ever become citizens. Meanwhile, the citizens reap the proceeds of their labor. (in this case, women citizens don't get to reap the proceeds, but that's a different topic).

...I'm not arguing that such a system is ideal. I'm simply pointing out thats the direction we seem to be headed. (think migrant worker and poultry farms in the south)

I am going on a hunger strike!

STOP SAVING SMALL BUSINESSES!!!!

Why does this country act like small businesses are akin to endangered species or historically oppressed minorities? If they can’t survive in business AND obey the laws then they should just die. There are plenty of other businesses that find a way to treat people like humans AND make a profit. That’s free market capitalism – something most people in this country (aside from politicians and small business owners) believe in.

So no need for a hunger strike. There are plenty of other good places to eat in the area that were not under investigation for being subhuman and amoral. What percentage of Park Slope restaurants are on this list? 5%? 10%?

I've lived in the Slope for 10 years and have never been to Aunt Suzies. I bet I can go another 10 years. I Love Coco Rocco chicken. But I’m eating Pollio’s chickens from now on. I lived fine before Bogota took over that community action office. I’ll live fine without them. I love Song too, but there are plenty of other Thai places that will sing for me.

I guess you can call it a boycott (yet another nice word the republicans have deemed dirty), but I call it exercising my rights as a consumer. Maybe it’s just me, but food tastes better when it’s not soaked in the blood of the dude serving it.

homeowner wrote: It may result in remaining establishments paying higher wages, but they might not be able to afford to employee as many, and they certainly can't hire folks that may lose their jobs because businesses close down.

Exactly! That's called a free market economy. Businesses should not be artificially and illegally propped up just so they don't go out of business. Some places should go out of business. It's like natural selection. That's why you don't see the National Geogrpahic camera crew trying to save a gazelle being chased by a cheetah.

It's OK. And yes it is best for those workers at places that go under - it allows them to get a new job at a place that is fair.

Fitzroy Sq wrote:
It's OK. And yes it is best for those workers at places that go under - it allows them to get a new job at a place that is fair.

Yes, I heard Fantasy Island is looking for delivery people and dish washers :roll:

pmonk wrote: Yes, I heard Fantasy Island is looking for delivery people and dish washers

Fantasy Island was hardly fair. They worked Hervé Villechaize to death. But at least Mr. Rourke didn't hide behind specious excuses to be greedy. You know, like that one about how cheating these workers enriches our government coffers. Who knew shortchanging busboys could eliminate the national debt?

It suddenly occurred to me while looking at that avatar - the Kool Aid Man is essentially pouring out glasses of his own blood? That's sick.

Fitzroy Sq wrote: That's called a free market economy. Businesses should not be artificially and illegally propped up just so they don't go out of business. Some places should go out of business.

It's OK. And yes it is best for those workers at places that go under - it allows them to get a new job at a place that is fair.

I think you're confusing things a little here. A free market economy is what would result if the government didn't interfere through minimum wages and whatnot. Were that the case, restaurants would be free (for better or worse) to pay workers whatever the market dictated, obviously a lot less than minimum wage. What we currently have is hardly a free market economy.

And as has been stated above, a bunch of restaurants going out of business will naturally result in a glut of low skill workers out of a job, looking for work, and probably willing to take a job for even less than they're getting paid now. It will definitely not result in those workers getting "fair" jobs. If such jobs currently existed, these workers would already have them. They aren't just going to suddenly come into being.

squindar wrote: what makes you think it's HIS blood?

Because he has see-through skin and I can see that the same thing coursing through his bulbous frame is in the pitcher.

But I have to add that without government "interference" we'd have free market chaos, not free market economy. We've seen what happens when business is allowed to go unchecked under Bush and we're all paying for it now. The government is always more accountable than any private company.