According to a press release issued Thursday by the mayor’s office:

“The Wage Theft Ordinance has proven to be an effective tool for promoting economic security and dignity for those working in the County. This is yet another example of how combining resources through collaborative partnerships leads to successful outcomes and achievement of objectives for everyone,” said Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez.

The mayor’s release adds that a collaboration between Miami-Dade County’s Small Business Division — which implements the Wage Theft ordinance — and the U.S. Department of Labor resulted in the recovery of of $147,777 in unpaid wages for 47 employees who were “not covered under federal wage and hour laws but are covered under the County’s ordinance were able to file complaints with SBD and were assisted with the recovery.”

A 2010 Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy report on wage theft indicates that the restaurant, food, construction, health care and social assistance industries show the highest number of reported wage theft cases in South Florida.

During the month of August, a group of restaurant workers organized a series of protests at De Rodriguez Cuba, a restaurant owned by Douglas Rodriguez, to demand their wages for hours worked. According to Spanish-language news outlet Univision Noticias 23, the workers alleged Rodriguez owed them about $21,000.

Juan Carlos Ocampo, a labor activist who supported the restaurant workers, tells the The Florida Independent that support from the Small Business Division helped the employees recover $11,000.

According to the South Florida Wage Theft Task Force, in its first year, Miami-Dade County’s wage theft ordinance “has processed 662 claims for a total amount of $1,760,177. Almost $400,000 has been recovered through conciliation and over $300,000 has been awarded through a hearing examiner process. In August alone, the program recovered and collected thru conciliation $52,000 for 109 workers.”

“It’s amazing how many people weren’t yet aware of the program,” says the Task Force’s Jeanette Smith. “While the program has been successful and we appreciate the support we have gotten from local governement, we think this is a unique partnership we have with local government. I don’t think we’ve gotten to the depth and breadth of the problem, and that will take a concerted effort between local government, community and local businesses. I think wage theft is one more thing that hurts small businesses.”

Cynthia Hernandez, a research associate at the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy, has extensively studied wage theft. She says wage theft cases, like the one recently exposed by the Independent at a Fort Lauderdale construction project, are “very common”:

Small contractors to even large corporations like Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us have used this method to not pay employees. It happens a lot in construction because there are so many different levels of contractors and subs, which make it even harder for the worker to identify ultimately who is responsible for their pay. I have even heard of sub-contractors (employers) who have been stiffed out of their cut by contractors and as a result, have been late or unable to pay their employees. Until we can actually get some enforcement, this will continue to happen.

A Department of Labor press release adds that “signatory states are Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Utah and Washington. Secretary Solis also announced agreements for the Wage and Hour Division to enter into memorandums of understanding with the state labor agencies of Hawaii, Illinois and Montana, as well as with New York’s attorney general.”

The Miami Herald reports that “the information will help Labor officials target businesses that improperly label workers as independent contractors or as non-employees to deprive workers of minimum wage and overtime pay. Misclassifying workers also lets companies avoid paying workers compensation, unemployment insurance and federal taxes.”

The Herald adds  that the Department of Labor “has focused on industries where so-called ‘wage theft’ is considered a problem, including the hotel, restaurant, janitorial, health care and day care industries,” adding that “last month, the agency began targeting large U.S. homebuilders to see if they failed to pay workers the minimum wage or overtime.”

The Florida Independent reported late last month that at least 50 construction workers who had worked 10 hours or more a day on a Broward County affordable housing project had not received their wages for anywhere from three weeks to two months. The general contractor and two companies involved in the project said it was not their responsibility to pay the workers.

Cynthia Hernandez, a research associate at the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University, has extensively studied wage theft wrote in an email to the Independent that practices like those alleged by the Sunrise workers is “very common”:

Small contractors to even large corporations like Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us have used this method to not pay employees. It happens a lot in construction because there are so many different levels of contractors and subs, which make it even harder for the worker to identify ultimately who is responsible for their pay. I have even heard of sub-contractors (employers) who have been stiffed out of their cut by contractors and as a result, have been late or unable to pay their employees. Until we can actually get some enforcement, this will continue to happen.

After workers reported the situation to the Independent and sought legal help, about 60 men, after weeks of being stiffed out of their wages, were paid with checks issued by Florida Shell Construction at the worksite.

The project, called Northwest Gardens, consists of 150 new townhomes and apartments designed for working families. The site was active on Monday, with cement trucks coming in and out and several dozen workers carrying out different tasks. #

The Northwest Gardens project is managed by BJ&K Construction, Inc. A BJ&K employee who did not give his name spoke with the Independent at the site. He said the workers “need to hire a lawyer,” and that BJ&K subcontracted with a company called Florida Shell Construction, Inc., which then subcontracted with Pozo Construction to hire the workers. #

According to its website, BJ&K is “a full service General Contractor, as well as one of the largest multi-family builders in the State of Florida,” and a member of organizations like the Florida East Coast Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors. #

The South Florida Sun Sentinel published a photo in February of “Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Charlotte Rodstrom, Mayor Jack Seiler and Commissioner Bobby DuBose toss[ing] some dirt in northwest Fort Lauderdale at the Northwest Gardens apartments,” alongside “Housing Authority board members Shirley Carson and James Camp.” #

Cesar worries that if workers hire a lawyer, the case could drag out in the courts. “In the meantime, we are going hungry,” he says. #

The BJ&K employee told the Independent that Florida Shell Construction gave the company paperwork to verify that Pozo Construction has a contractor’s license. He also said that BJ&K did not learn until last Friday that most of the site’s workers are undocumented and not authorized to work in the U.S. #

A Florida Shell representative who declined to give her name told the Independent the company sub-contracted with David Sonk of Pozo Construction, and it is Pozo’s responsibility to make payroll. Florida Shell is owned by Enrique Perez. #

Sonk tells the Independent that Florida Shell has not paid Pozo, and that the company delayed a $70,000 check to cover payroll for over two weeks. #

“I’m the third contractor that has not been paid by Florida Shell,” Sonk says. He says that when he requested $40,000, the company gave him $30,000; when he requested $50,000, Florida Shell gave him $40,000; and that under those conditions he could not keep working. #

Sonk says he hired as many as 50 men to work 60 hours a week for about eight weeks, at $12 an hour, due to pressure from BJ&K and Florida Shell, who demanded the workers. #

Sonk says that the “workers told [him] they were authorized,” and admits he never asked to see any documents to prove they were authorized to work in the U.S. Sonk says he paid the workers in cash and kept no payroll records. #

Another worker, who is owed more than three weeks in wages and asked that his name not be used, tells the Independent that between 40 and 50 workers are owed anywhere from $1,600 to $3,500. He says that workers are paid in cash, that most are undocumented and that security at the work site recently threatened them by saying they would call Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they went to demand their wages. #

The man says that last Friday about 30 workers went to the office of Florida Shell to discuss their wages with owner Enrique Perez, who told them they should hire a lawyer to get their wages and that he was not going to pay them. According to the worker, Perez told them that they had to get their wages from Pozo Construction. #

Cynthia Hernandez, a research associate at the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy at Florida International University, has extensively studied wage theft. She writes in an email to the Independent that practices like those alleged by the Sunrise workers is “very common”: #

Small contractors to even large corporations like Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us have used this method to not pay employees. It happens a lot in construction because there are so many different levels of contractors and subs, which make it even harder for the worker to identify ultimately who is responsible for their pay. I have even heard of sub-contractors (employers) who have been stiffed out of their cut by contractors and as a result, have been late or unable to pay their employees. Until we can actually get some enforcement, this will continue to happen. #

Another Northwest Gardens worker, Andres (who also asked that we not use his last name), tells the Independent a group of workers are meeting a lawyer in Miami on Monday afternoon to discuss filing a lawsuit to have their wages paid. #

Photos taken at the site today: #

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The John T. Walton Champions for School Choice Award was given to the professor by the American Federation For Children, which recently held its second annual National Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Dr. Fuller was present during the summit, as was Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Read The American Independent’s coverage of the event.

John T. Walton, a son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, sat on the Philanthropy Roundtable, a private, free-market, non-profit organization with ties to the Heritage Foundation and the George W. Bush administration. He also co-founded the Children’s Scholarship Fund in 1998, a charitable organization that supports needy students’ tuitions at private schools.

Fuller has rebuked Wisconsin elected officials for supporting legislation that would reform the Milwaukee school voucher program by providing public funds to any student, regardless of family income, to attend private schools. In an op-ed that appeared in the Journal Sentinel in April, he wrote:

It was not easy for me to stand before the state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee and threaten to withdraw my support from the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program… But if lawmakers approve Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to lift the income requirement that has maintained the program for children from low-income families, that is exactly what I will do.

The American Independent has reached out to Dr. Fuller but he has yet to offer a comment.

On Wednesday, the state assembly of Wisconsin passed AB 92, which would lift income eligibility requirements in the voucher program of Milwaukee. Leading Republican state senators have yet to put in their support for the legislation despite Gov. Walker’s push for the proposed law. AFC supports the governor and his backers in expanding the city’s voucher program without income eligibility requirements.

Many customers in the Houston Wal-Mart during the wee hours Friday were young mothers whose WIC money had just kicked in on their Texas Lone Star benefits cards.

“The real troubling part to us is why [they are] out shopping at that hour,” Dave Dillon, chief executive of Kroger, said in an interview, adding that the supermarket giant adjusted its shelf-stocking patterns after witnessing the same phenomenon as Wal-Mart. “We clearly see an increase,” he said.

Wal-Mart declined to disclose details, but it has also responded to the early-morning spike on the first of the month. It increases staffing and ensures that its shelves are stocked with the necessities customers are seeking, a spokesman said, though he stressed that the number of shoppers involved at midnight is relatively minor compared with peak periods such as weekends.

“We know our customers are living paycheck to paycheck as they continue to struggle as a result of the economy,” said Wal-Mart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez.

The phenomenon underscores the extraordinary hardship the recession has imposed. But it also does speak to WIC and SNAP’s efficiency as government programs. They are nothing but voucher systems. The government gives families the equivalent of cash, and lets them spend it in local stores as they see best fit. The arrangement benefits the businesses — Wal-Mart and Kroger’s clearly feel for the young moms stocking up, but profit from the transactions. And it benefits the families too. They get what they need, as soon as they need it, as efficiently as possible.

That was a point Joel Berg of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger made to me last week, discussing passed and pending cuts to SNAP.

We come at this from a moral position, a nutritional position, and an economic recovery position. This cut is so insane from an economic position as well — we know food stamps are the most effect form of stimulus. The jury is still out on parts of the stimulus — but the jury isn’t out on food stamps. It was a 1,000 percent, beyond home run grand slam success, if you’ll excuse me mixing metaphors.

The money went to people who needed it, rapidly, and without a lot of bureaucracy. Actually, SNAP used to have something like a 15 percent administrative overhead drag. Since the stimulus bill increased benefits and boosted the number of people getting them, administrative costs are down to 7 percent. For all the conservative ranting — vouchers, vouchers, vouchers — food stamps are a voucher program! You’re not being sent to a government-run food center. You’re getting a voucher to use in the private market. It is good for businesses too.

The child nutrition bill that might have cut SNAP again, though, has stalled in the House.

The paycheck cycle we’ve talked about before remains extreme. It is our responsibility to figure out how to sell in that environment, adjusting pack sizes, large pack at sizes the beginning of the month, small pack sizes at the end of the month. And to figure out how to deal with what is an ever-increasing amount of transactions being paid for with government assistance.

And you need not go further than one of our stores on midnight at the end of the month. And it’s real interesting to watch, about 11 p.m., customers start to come in and shop, fill their grocery basket with basic items, baby formula, milk, bread, eggs,and continue to shop and mill about the store until midnight, when electronic — government electronic benefits cards get activated and then the checkout starts and occurs. And our sales for those first few hours on the first of the month are substantially and significantly higher.

And if you really think about it, the only reason somebody gets out in the middle of the night and buys baby formula is that they need it, and they’ve been waiting for it. Otherwise, we are open 24 hours — come at 5 a.m., come at 7 a.m., come at 10 a.m. But if you are there at midnight, you are there for a reason.

To put this in perspective, 40 million Americans currently rely on food stamps, and one in seven falls below the government’s very low poverty threshold.

For instance, today The Wall Street Journal’s Damian Paletta reports on a change Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) is pushing for the benefit of a single Arkansas bank, one primarily owned by the Waltons of Wal-Mart fame no less.

Under Ms. Lincoln’s proposed change, Arvest would be excused from a provision that could require banks to raise more capital, in Arvest’s case about $115 million. Other Senate Democrats had intended only to exempt banks with less than $10 billion in capital from the provision. Ms. Lincoln wants to raise that to $15 billion, a threshold that would exempt Arvest. It is the only bank in Arkansas with between $10 billion and $15 billion of assets, though there are some in other states.

White House officials have said they don’t want changes that benefit specific companies, leery of the horse-trading that nearly sank their health-care overhaul. But the administration also can’t afford to alienate Ms. Lincoln, head of the Senate Agriculture Committee, whose support on the broader overhaul is vital to its success.

Lawmakers routinely do things to benefit organizations in their home states, often seen as “constituent service.” But Ms. Lincoln’s move could cause headaches for other Democrats because Arvest is owned by such a wealthy and politically influential company.

This is hardly the first time Lincoln has been accused of doing Wal-Mart’s work. And in other Wal-Mart-possibly-influencing-major-Senate-Democrats news, the Daily Caller has a provocative, thin story on the $20 million in donations the world’s biggest retailer has made in Illinois, purportedly to curry favor with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) over the debit card fee provision in the financial regulatory reform bill. They apparently lost that battle, if they were fighting it.

“Walmart employs 4 times as many people here as the city of Wasilla.”

and

“Another fun fact: Palin beat her opponent in the 1996 mayor’s race 616-413.”

A true metropolis.