June 3, 2003

Workers have right to wages, regardless of legal status

Editorial Board

AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

You work hard, right?

Most of us do. The regular paycheck is about more than just money. It is an acknowledgment of the hard work we do that gives us a sense of identity and pride.

When employers refuse to pay their workers, they steal more than money. They steal a piece of irreplaceable pride. The immigrant population is the most vulnerable to this type of exploitation because immigrants are the least likely to complain.

From August 2002 to mid-May, the Central Texas Immigrant Worker Rights Center, 510 S. Congress Ave., handled 145 requests by workers claiming that employers didn't pay them. The estimated amount of those claims is almost $140,000, and about $33,000 of that has been collected so far. This figure comes from workers who were brave enough to speak up.

A welcome sign that authorities are beginning to take immigrant worker complaints seriously is the recent arrest by Austin police of an Austin employer accused of refusing to pay an immigrant worker. Ilde Perez said she was never paid her full salary, and one week, not paid at all. In May, Perez received a $400 check from her former employer.

As might be expected, not everyone is pleased with this outcome. Austin Assistant Police Chief Rudy Landeros said some people have complained that police department was helping the immigrants instead of arresting them. Landeros said his officers don't ask whether victims of theft who are immigrants are documented. That's as it should be. Stealing from an immigrant is just as illegal as any other kind of theft, and it should be pursued that way.