By Justin Strekal, CCPC Steering Committee Member and Organizer with Guardians for Fair Work
Currently, if an employee stole $2,900 from their company, they’d be charged with a crime. But when a company steals $2,900 from its workers, they are not.
Growing up in Cleveland Heights and later living in University Circle and Collinwood while attending Cleveland State, I saw firsthand instances where workers around Cleveland, sometimes even my colleagues, became victims of wage theft in the contracting and restaurant industries. From those who were only paid for 39 hours of work when they put in 45 over the week, to those who were outright stiffed as contractors.
But as a young, white, male staffer, that didn’t happen to me.
And after college, like so many of my generation, I left Cleveland in search of “better opportunities.” But after being gone for a decade and running around the country to work for progressive campaigns and causes, I realized there is nowhere I would rather be than back in the Land.
So having recently moved back, I thought long and hard about how I could best work to improve the material conditions of my fellow Clevelanders as we seek to build a more thriving and equitable city. And what is more equitable than making sure workers are paid what they are owed?
For context, Policy Matters Ohio estimates that there are 213,000 instances of wage theft by minimum wage violations alone (!) per year in Ohio and that each impacted worker loses on average $2,900 a year. In a city where the median household income is just over $31,000, that is the equivalent of 9% pretax, or essentially robbing a worker of over a month’s pay.
Unfortunately, because of the total absence of leadership from statewide Republicans in protecting the least among us in Ohio, the burden of cracking down on those who would rob their own employees falls upon municipalities.
It quickly became clear to me that the Guardians for Fair Work campaign was raising up some of the most important issues working people in our community face, including addressing the scourge of wage theft. In less than a year, working with allies including the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, Policy Matters Ohio, the Northeast Ohio Workers Center, and others, outreach was done to City Council and fortunately, Council President Blaine Griffin agreed to be the champion to put forth legislation to put Cleveland on the side of the workers, not thieving, shady businesses.
Recently, Council President Griffin introduced well-intentioned yet inadequate legislation to address this problem in Cleveland. What is absent in the recently introduced package is the enforcement mechanisms needed to be able to take action against bad actors.
Now the Guardians campaign is ramping up its call to allies to ensure that Cleveland’s workers get the protections they need from unscrupulous thieving employers.
Currently, if an employee stole $2,900 from their company, they’d be charged with a crime. When a company steals $2,900 from their workers, they are not.
Last night I gave comment at @CleCityCouncil to discuss the @FairWorkCLE effort to take action against wage theft. pic.twitter.com/NCHfCSwhWH
— Justin Strekal (@justinstrekal) September 13, 2022
Given that addressing wage theft is a complaint-driven enforcement policy, if workers don’t know that new wage theft protections exist, the policy will not achieve its intended outcome.
The best pathway forward would be the creation of something similar to Columbus’s “Just Pay Fund,” which would equip Cleveland with a dynamic ability to respond to allegations of wage theft as well as proactively educate workers and businesses alike as to best practices for those private businesses who seek to build up Cleveland through city contracts or receive financial incentives from the city.
Let's talk about wage theft!
I joined the @FairWorkCLE campaign almost 6 months ago, and I was happy to give comment on Monday at the Cleveland City Council meeting to discuss Council's introduction of a wage theft ordinance. 1/https://t.co/OKj4aiWbMA
— Matthew Ahn (@ahnbrand) September 14, 2022
By advancing the new wage theft policy, coupled with equipping the existing Fair Employment Wage Board with the tools and personnel needed to carry the new policy out akin to what Columbus did, we can foster both clarity and trust between our city, the businesses it works with, and the workers of Cleveland.
After all, Clevelanders deserve a city that will work for them in the most efficient and equitable way possible, and it’s up to us to get every member of Cleveland City Council to take action.
So please, join me in signing the Guardians for Fair Work petition on wage theft.
