workers file labor claim against chinese restaurant group

This week in New York, a group of Chinese restaurant workers filed a claim with the National Labor Relations Board against Wu Liang Ye, a Chinese restaurant group which the workers sued for labor violations in April 2008: 2 Chinese Restaurants Accused of Labor Violations.

Again, it boils down to getting paid farily. In the original lawsuit, 25 workers -- waiters and delivery workers at restaurants on the Upper East Side and in Midtown -- accused the restaurant's management of failing to pay overtime and meet the minimum wage. Of course!

The suit, filed by AALDEF, also asserted that restaurant managers improperly took 10 percent of all tips that were paid by credit card and, in addition, may have taken tip money that they never distributed to busboys.

In the new complaint, workers claim that since February the restaurant group has threatened and harassed them for union-organizing activities in retaliation. That is not cool.

The new complaint was filed with the help of the Justice Will Be Served campaign, which has helped organize restaurant workers across the city against "long hours, second-class wages, stolen tips and other sweatshop conditions, and for fair wages, control over their time, and respect."