Lawyers as Resource Allies in Workers' Struggles for Social Change

Abstract

It's 9:00 a.m., and lower Manhattan wakes to another day of business. As livery trucks and coffee-toting commuters rush down the block, a group of men gathers in the basement of an old brick building. Soon, the space, a nonprofit workers' center, buzzes with brisk conversation in Spanish, English, and Mixteco, an indigenous Mexican language. Around a crowded pair of oblong tables, a community organizer starts the meeting. The men are kitchen workers from a number of restaurants. They have little in common except for their work and their potentially imminent unemployment. Months ago, they organized collectively to demand fair treatment and just compensation from their employers, but their demands have been met with threats. In the latest of a series of retaliatory actions, the employers have issued an ultimatum against the workers-if they do not abandon their organizing and legal claims, then they will be fired. In two hours' time, the earliest shift of workers will face their employers and this fate. Many of these workers are my clients in a federal wage-and-hour lawsuit. I know they are meeting this morning to discuss the situation, but I am not with them. I am in my office, considerably anxious, wondering what will happen. What will the workers decide? How angry, hurt, and worried do they feel? How will they find new jobs in this ailing economy? How will they pay rent and feed their families? I learned just last night about this retaliatory move. In response, I emailed a letter to opposing counsel stating that I interpreted their clients' actions as potentially unlawful retaliation. Beyond that, I could do little. No rhetoric of rights or legal prohibition can prevent workers from actually suffering employers' illegal acts. In contrast to my legal response, the plaintiffs in our case immediately reached out to their friends at related restaurants and requested this morning's meeting with the organizers. Unwilling to give up their fight for respect and legally mandated pay, they face their likely firings while seizing the opportunity to increase awareness among similarly affected