No Me Han Pagado
Preventing and fighting back against wage theft for day laborers
Day laborers and other immigrant workers often work without contracts and for temporary periods, making them especially vulnerable to wage theft by their employers. Many day laborers are recent immigrants to the US and aren’t aware of their right to be paid the minimum wage and work in a safe environment, or what to do if their wages have been stolen.
CUP worked with designer Caroline Oh and Queens-based New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) to make ¡No me han pagado!, an illustrated, Spanish-language guide to help day laborers protect themselves from wage theft. The project was developed with input from NICE members, who also appear in many of the illustrations. The pocket-sized guide visually explains the specific things that day laborers should be paid for, what to keep track of on the job and at home to better protect oneself, and what to do if one is owed wages.
The guide breaks down the workplace rights of workers in New York State who identify as women, trans, and gender-nonconforming around safety, fair pay, and protections against gender-based discrimination. It also illustrates how workers can change their circumstances by knowing and advocating for their rights, and with workers across other industries.
¡No me han pagado! (I haven’t been paid!) is currently being distributed by NICE and eight other day laborer centers in the New York metropolitan area. In addition to raising awareness about labor rights and how to enforce them, NICE is using the booklet as an organizing tool in their 2014 campaigns to bring workers with wage theft cases together to put pressure on employers, and to improve state agency oversight of wage and hour violations.
Check Out the Project
Two spreads from No Me Han Pagado
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Project Collaborators
Special Thanks
Caracol Interpreters Collaborative, David Colodny, Christine Gaspar, Sam Holleran, Raj Kottamasu, Diana Marin, Nadia Marin-Molina, Valeria Mogilevich, Chrystian Rodriguez
Product Details
20-page, 3.5″ × 5.5″ booklet
Funding Support
Support for this project was provided by The Rockefeller Foundation’s NYC Cultural Innovation Fund; and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.