More than a century after the famous strike by Lawrence mill workers incensed over being shortchanged in their pay checks, some company owners continue to deprive employees their just compensation.
The annual Bread & Roses Labor Day Festival celebrates that 1912 landmark Lawrence workers victory, as well as the city’s diverse cultures through music, theater, dance and art.
As history.com recounted, a newly enacted Massachusetts law at the time had reduced the workweek of women and children from 56 to 54 hours, but mill owners, unlike in the past, cut worker’s wages proportionally. For workers who only averaged $8.76 per week, every penny was precious, and 32 cents made the difference between eating a meal or going hungry.
Striking protesters, many of them women, delivered fiery rally speeches and marched in picket lines and parades. The banners they carried demanded both living wages and dignity — “We want bread, and roses, too” — gave the work stoppage its name, the Bread and Roses Strike.
Unfortunately, an annual watchdog report by the state’s top law-enforcement agency reaffirms the continued need to police the behavior of unscrupulous employers.
That report, released on Labor Day by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, indicated that in fiscal 2021, her office’s Fair Labor Division fined employers more than $8.1 million for wage theft and other labor law violations.
The AG’s sixth annual Labor Day release disclosed that from July 2020 to June 2021, the Fair Labor Division ordered businesses to pay $5 million in restitution and $3.1 million in penalties to more than 10,000 employees.
The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis remained a prominent issue for many working families and continued to be a part of the AG’s focus.
The Fair Labor Division prioritized wage theft in the construction industry in fiscal 2021. In total, $1,985,000 in penalties and restitution were assessed against 115 employers in that sector.
In one case, the AG’s office fined a Lowell asbestos company, Fiber Control Inc., for more than $564,000, which included restitution for 32 employees, for failing to pay wages and overtime, failing to maintain an earned sick time policy, and payroll records violations.
The company and its principals were debarred from participating in public-works projects for the period of one year beginning Oct. 10, 2020.
The AG office’s efforts to enforce Massachusetts’ child labor laws also remained a priority. In one notable case, Healey’s office cited a management company that operated 10 Dunkin’ locations in the Boston area for $120,000 in penalties after an investigation revealed more than 1,000 violations of the state’s child labor laws.
Other vulnerable groups preyed on by employers included the cleaning and janitorial services industry. In total, Healey’s team secured nearly $300,000 in restitution and penalties and assisted more than 950 employees.
In one case, Number One Solution LLC, a cleaning company based in Southboro, was required to pay $154,000 in restitution and penalties to resolve allegations of wage theft, failure to maintain an earned sick leave policy and for not producing accurate records.
No matter the technological advances or the changing nature of our working culture, bread and roses — living wages and dignity — remain a constant theme, as is the necessity to preserve that basic right.
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September 08, 2021 at 04:02PM
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AG report: Not all workers get bread and roses - Lowell Sun
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