Students and Employees Protest Against Alleged Wage Theft

 By Justin Lee

 

A team effort between the Employment Justice Center, GW Progressive Student Union and the DC wage Theft Coalition gathered in Kogan Plaza on Thursday. They were joined by various other workers’ rights organizations to protest against BRAVO!, a company that allegedly withheld money from 11 members of the university cleaning staff this summer.

The protest opened with various leaders of the organization giving small speeches about how GW Students could get involved in helping the university workers. The megaphone was then handed off the two of the workers who gave their side of the story and explained the damages they received from the wage theft.

The group then marched over to Rice Hall to deliver a petition to GW ‘s Vice President of Operations, Alicia Knight. The petition has over 1,000 signatures on it.

The demonstration did not limit its scope to just the eleven victims of wage theft. Sam Nelson, Organizer of the Progressive Student Union, stated that this demonstration was meant to also give GW students some insight into the lives of GW employees.

“Even if only 30 people show up for this rally, the message is still in the public eye,” said Nelson. “The importance of this rally is for GW students to become more aware of what happens in the community around them.”

Approximately fifty people showed up for the demonstration with many other students passing by and stopping to listen.