Campaigns
Justice for Job Seekers
Laundry Workers Center is proud to be a member of the Justice for Job Seekers (J4JS) coalition, founded in 2014 and led by New Immigrant Community Empowerment.
J4JS works to ensure that employment agencies provide low wage and immigrant workers with fair access to good jobs. Agencies all over New York State target the immigrant community with fraudulent, predatory and substandard business practices:
- Fees required before the worker is placed in a job
- Fees required even if the worker doesn’t get a job
- Workers offered jobs paying below minimum wage
- No contracts
- Deceptive advertising
- Sending workers to bogus addresses or businesses that are not hiring
For two years, LWC members worked with J4JS and told their stories, conducted on-site research, did outreach, organized direct actions, and met with legislators.
J4JS’s grassroots organizing lead to real gains, including the J4JS bill, which bans employment agencies from charging advance fees, strengthens enforcement, and empowers workers to fight back against exploitative agencies. Learn more here.
Laundry Workers Center is thrilled to announce that through tireless grassroots organizing, the Justice for Job Seekers bill S.8102/A.10672 passed the Senate 44-17 and the Assembly 109-15! We thank Senator Jeffrey Klein and Assemblymember Francisco Moya for standing with our communities to champion this bill.
Once signed by Governor Cuomo, the bill will provide fair and meaningful protections to low wage immigrant workers as they look for work in the state of New York. This is a huge win for our communities!
See also:
Ana Busca Trabajo — a Graphic novel written by NICE members, aimed at educating the community on how to avoid falling prey to employment agencies. Over 3,850 copies distributed!
Job Seekers Bill of Rights: