A crowd carrying signs reading “Justice is Served for Saigon Grill Delivery Workers” gathered Wednesday afternoon outside the restaurant on the corner of W. 90th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, proclaiming the end of a long spat between workers and employees over unfair wages.
For two years, members of the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association stood on that same corner weekly, demanding fair wages for restaurant employees. When the restaurant fired 36 employees last March after they refused to sign an affidavit stating that they received minimum wage, the group filed a lawsuit against the restaurant owners, Simon and Michelle Nget, alleging payment far below the state minimum wage of $4.85 for delivery workers. Some workers say they received as little as $1.65 an hour.
The gathering marked the end of a trying period which resulted in the Ngets being charged with federal and state labor law violations. They were ordered to pay their workers $4.6 million in compensation.
Ken Kimberland and John Adler, two lawyers who represented the workers in the lawsuit, said that this is an important victory for delivery workers. Although the Ngets have yet to comply with the ruling, the lawyers said that they will take every legal action possible to get the workers their money. According to Adler, each of the Saigon Grill chain restaurants owned by the Ngets is worth $20 million, and the lawyers will attempt use legal actions to seize them if necessary.
State Senator Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan) also spoke at the rally, saying that this victory will change the way restaurants will operate in New York City. “You have won not just for yourselves, but for everyone,” he said. He called their actions as an example of “service to the people.”
Former Saigon Grill employees and plaintiffs like Yu Guan Ke, a fired part-time delivery worker who had worked at Saigon Grill for more than ten years, also spoke at the gathering. Guan, who earned a salary of $2.25 per hour, said through a Chinese translator that he fights not just for money, but to change the working conditions for others in the restaurant industry. “Somebody has to step up and be the first to fight,” he said.
The lawsuit at Saigon Grill sparked similar fair wage campaigns at other area restaurants, including Ollie’s Noodle Shop and Grill and Flor de Mayo.
Adolfo Lopez, a former Flor de Mayo employee, told the press through a Spanish translator, “I came to know of the rights I could have when I came to these pickets and learned that I could also fight at my restaurant.”
In response to Lopez’s words, the protestors chanted “Boycott Saigon Grill!” and “Luchamos y ganamos!”—“We fight and we win!”
A CSWA spokesperson promised to continue fighting against restaurants that treat their workers with injustice, shouting “Ollie’s Noodle Shop and Grill will be next!” The National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, a workers’ rights center, has on its Web site flyers to boycott Ollie’s, accusing owner Tsu Yue Wang of paying workers less than $2 an hour, forcing them to work twelve-hour-days with no break, denying them sick days, and firing protesting workers. Frank Chang, a manager at Ollie’s, denied these charges. “No, we don’t have any problems with our workers,” he said.
A current Saigon Grill employee declined to comment and said the Ngets were not available for interview.
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