Binh, who often comments on this blog and is among the many of you who keep me honest, sent this article from the New York Times last week about a judgment for the deliverymen of Saigon Grill, a mini chain of highly-rated Vietnamese restaurants in Manhattan. The deliverymen have been picketing for nearly a year to protest being underpaid, and then the restaurant fired a number of them last March, apparently because they were threatening a lawsuit. That's an illegal firing in the U.S. Most of the deliverymen are Chinese-born and they assert that they sometimes received only $120 for a 75-hour work week (that's $1.60 an hour). New York State's minimum wage is $4.85 an hour before tips.
Unlike the situation in San Jose with the "Little Saigon" naming controversy that persists, there were no hunger strikes in New York!
Restaurants Must Rehire Deliverymen, Judge Rules (NYT, 2/21/08, login may be required)
