Boston Mayor Martin Walsh issued an executive order Thursday requiring city-contracted vendors to certify their compliance with both federal and state wage laws.
Vendors will be required to disclose previous violations of these laws to the City. Wage theft in the city of Boston affects workers and their families, particularly low-income and immigrant families, according to Friday press release from the mayor’s office.
“It’s illegal to deny fairly earned wages,” Walsh said in the release. “This executive order empowers workers to demand what they have worked for. I’m committed to stopping violations and holding employers to the letter of the law.”
Lindsay McCluskey, council organizer at the Greater Boston Labor Council, said she hopes employers “tighten up their acts” and treat their workers correctly and that those who do not will have stronger consequences imposed upon them.
“This executive order puts in place mechanisms to ensure that the City of Boston does not do business with these bad actors, but instead issues contracts and licenses to employers that do not have a track record of wage theft,” she said in an email. “While the passage of this executive order is a great start, there is still a lot of work to be done in implementing this order and expanding it in the future.”
Wage theft has been illegal prior to the implementation of this ordinance, but employers continue to steal workers’ wages, McCluskey said. The GBLC’s newly imposed consequences will prevent wage theft and allow vendors to treat their employees with dignity.
“It is essential that our city take steps to hold unscrupulous employers who commit wage theft violations accountable, and that is what this ordinance seeks to do,” she said. “All people deserve to be paid fairly and treated with respect by their employer.”
Curtis Rollins, advocacy and outreach associate at the Boston Workers Alliance, said he sees a meaningful impact on Boston workers from the executive order, but the City must raise its standards on what is and is not acceptable for employers.
“Part of what my organization is doing when it comes to job standards is to have policies implemented, both in those areas where workers are not treated as well as other parts of the city, but also a higher floor within all areas of Boston,” he said.
The Boston Workers Alliance conducts workshops that assist with informing other organizations on how they can use the city’s vendor list database to look for jobs. However, Rollins said more needs to be done, even by the worker, to assure worker equality and protection in all neighborhoods of Boston.
“Those affected need to demand more of elected officials, whether it be not just the mayor but city councilors and state representatives as well,” he said. “Put the pressure on them to let it be known that they need to represent the people, not just those that might have the monetary means to donate to them, but all of those people that they represent within their jurisdiction.”
Several residents said they believe workers themselves need to take action and demand their rights now that inequalities and corruption have become more publicized through Walsh’s order.
Ariel Cruz, 26, of East Boston, said workers are responsible for maintaining their own rights.
“It’s up to the workers,” she said. “They have to have a voice. They have to demand their rights.”
Monica Bowen, 42, of Allston, said Walsh has an influence over the issue of wage theft, but workers should demand their own rights as well.
“It is very important for workers to know their rights,” she said. “The mayor taking a stance is going to be more influential than maybe the underdogs rising up to do so.”
Kara Martin, 26, of Allston, said she has witnessed firsthand how employers take advantage of immigrant workers through wage theft.
“It’s a problem because employers will force them to sign documents that they can’t understand,” she said. “They have no idea what their rights are. They are too afraid to complain because they know they are lucky to have any job at all. I think something is better than nothing, but how much it is going to help them will depend on what other support they have.”
