Quinn signs bill inspired by former Duraco workers
Former workers at Duraco Products Inc. in Streamwood rejoiced after Gov. Quinn signed a bill into law that protects workers from wage theft.
"We felt it was a big victory because nobody is going to be able to steal our wages anymore," said former Duraco worker Jesenya Rodriguez.
Quinn signed Senate Bill 3568 on Friday in front of Rodriguez and other workers in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. Rodriguez addressed the crowd that gathered.
The law stiffens the penalties for employers who illegally withhold wages. It also makes it easier for workers to file complaints, letting them go directly to state circuit court instead of going to the overtaxed state department of labor.
It affects low-wage cases, defined as disputes of wages of $3,000 or less. The law goes into effect next year. It was inspired by the allegations 34 workers made against Duraco, charging the owners of the shuttered factory refused to pay their workers. The former employees have a pending lawsuit against brothers Michael and Kevin P. Lynch. They're seeking $200,000 to $500,000 in lost wages and benefits. The empty factory stands on the 1100 block of East Lake Street.
The new law won't help the workers in the Duraco case, but Rodriguez, of Hanover Park, still views it as a positive. She said the effort talking to politicians paid off.
"It was a struggle getting everything together; it was a struggle going down to Springfield every week talking to senators and representatives, just getting our voices out," she said.
Duraco, which made plastic garden supplies, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2008. Workers said the Lynch brothers only filed bankruptcy to avoid paying them; the brothers have denied that.
Leone Bicchieri, executive director of the Chicago Workers Collaborative, is working with the former Duraco employees. His group and others have formed the Just Pay For All coalition, hoping that more workers come forward with their wage theft complaints.
"Our job is … to educate community members in Chicago and the suburbs about the new law so they can understand how to keep your hours, how to keep evidence," he said.
Bicchieri said the Duraco workers were the most active group in the effort to get the bill passed.
"They were quickly joined by other workers," he said.
According to the state department of labor, officials recovered $3.1 million in unpaid and underpaid wages last year in Illinois. A University of Illinois at Chicago study showed more than 300,000 low-wage workers in Chicago and suburban Cook County have been affected by wage theft. While the department of labor recovered a portion of lost wages, the same UIC study reports workers lose about $7.3 million a week in unpaid wages.