New York City Laws Protecting Workers Constantly Broken

The laws that have been enforced to protect the working poor in the city are consistently being broken in almost evey injustry.  This is leading to unsafe and inhumane conditions for thousands of workers.

Drawing from research and interviews conducted between 2003 and 2006 with more than 300 individuals and employers, the report, titled “Unregulated Work in the Global City,” presents a grim analysis.

“People tend to think of these conditions as being just on the fringes of the labor market,” said Annette Bernhardt, one of the authors of the report. “But we found they are deeply woven into all aspects of the city’s economy.”

The report details eight key problems, including minimum-wage violations, unsafe conditions, employers threatening workers who try to unionize and instances of trafficking and forced labor.

The report pointed to long-term trends, such as globalization, de-unionization and “a deteriorating social contract,” as causes of these violations, as well as a simple lack of public education about where laws are being broken. For example, the report indicated that even high-income New Yorkers, who might hire nannies or contractors on a daily basis, are sometimes not taking an active interest in their working conditions.

In response to the problems listed, the government at all levels must improve employment laws and enforce them more effectively.