NEWS

The Volunteer Appreciation lunch is becoming an annual tradition for the Community of Friends in Action. The hard-working lunch crew and the wage theft recovery committee enjoy getting together and having other people wait on them for a change!

 

“An Afternoon at the Opera” will be presented at the Presbyterian Church in Leonia, 181 Fort Lee Road, Leonia, at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, 2015. Offered as a fundraiser for the Community of Friends in Action, Inc., the concert features Leonia native Jennifer Borghi, soprano, and current Leonia resident, Beth Robin, pianist.

Jennifer Borghi is an Italian-American opera singer who performs in classical musical venues throughout Europe. She has sung at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Greek National Opera, the Theater an der Wien, the Opéra Royal de Versailles, and many others. She is active as both a stage and recording artist and as a recitalist, and has received many grants and prizes. Since 2010 she has been featured in more than a dozen world premiere recordings of French operatic and concert works of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Pianist Beth Robin has performed in chamber music concerts throughout North America, India, and Germany with the Robin-Yajima Duo, Hudson Trio and Tryptich. She has been the principal accompanist for the Summit Chorale, the Teaneck Community Chorus and the Zamir Chorale of New York, with whom she has premiered and recorded several new works. Her recordings also include Cuban and Puerto Rican Danzas and 21st Century compositions with saxophonist Jame Noyes. She has taught for several years privately and at the Thurnauer Music School and the Elisabeth Morrow School.

The program features Mozart’s “Exsultate, jubilate” (KV 165) and “Come scoglio” from Cosi fan tutte. Samual Barber’s enchanting “Three Songs” (Opus 45) will be followed by selections from Ginastera and Puccini.

The recipient of the funds raised at the event, the Community of Friends in Action, Inc.,(CoFiA) is a community-based organization that works in Eastern Bergen County on behalf of immigrants, primarily from Guatemala. In addition to providing social services, such as a free-lunch program during the cold months and assistance in collecting wages that have not been paid by employers, CoFiA works for better immigration policy.

The concert will be followed by a champagne-and-juice reception with special hors d’oeuvres. $25 at the door; children under 12 free. For information call Carolyn Sobering, 201-461-6731 or go to www.communityoffriendsinaction.org. Donations on behalf of CoFiA may be made payable to Community of Friends in Action., Inc., and mailed to P.O. Box 313, Leonia, NJ 07605.

The wage theft committee has been very busy over recent months and has had several successes in collecting unpaid wages for workers who came to us for assistance. Of some $38,338 outstanding claims, cash in the amount of $17,747 has been received and turned over to 18 workers. The least amount recovered during this period was $100, and the most was $3600, with others ranging from $400 to $1900.

Each incident has its own story. Five men who came to us because they were owed $8800 by a Palisades Park business agreed to file a claim with the New Jersey Department of Labor. After many months and many meetings and telephone conversations with the DOL, the claim was settled in their favor. However, DOL arranged for it to be paid by the errant employers in very small increments. To date only $997 has been paid, meaning each person has received a little less than $200, leaving a balance of $7840. We calculate that at this rate it will take more than five years to recover the funds!

Umscrupulous employers often threaten to notify immigration if a worker complains of wage theft. However, even if workers are undocumented, the law requires that anyone who hires a worker is legally obliged to pay what is promised. The Department of Labor does not notify immigration if a claim is filed, and if there seems to be credible evidence may send an investigator to review the case. Sometimes the investigation itself is enough to convince the employer to pay. In other situations the case goes to a hearing. CoFiA has collected on several of these, and others are pending. The biggest problem is forcing the employer to pay up even when the judgment is in the worker’s favor.

One committee member notified the sheriff in a case where there was a clear violation, and he put a lien on the employer’s bank accounts. Several hundred dollars was collected in this way. However, the money quickly disappeared from those accounts. According to the worker, the word on the street was that the errant employer moved his money to the Canary Islands! Not even CoFiA has that long a reach!

Two incidents had surprisingly positive outcomes. One worker informed us that he had not been paid by a restaurant in Englewood. On investigation, the committee found that the owner for whom he had worked had sold the restaurant. The new owner was very upset that there was this outstanding debt, and agreed to make it right—on the spot! So the worker received the $1600 due him, and we have a new friend in the owner of Rancho Maria Restaurant in Englewood!

Another happy story is of a claim against a landscaping sub-contractor for $1090. This required a Sherlock Holmes level of sleuthing by the committee, because as is often the case the claimant had very little information about the employer. Very often the worker is only given the first name of a contractor or a foreman, and there is no identification on the truck or the job site that will allow them to track down the person in charge. After innumerable phone calls the committee member tracked down the contractor himself, who, like the owner of Rancho Maria, was appalled that this practice was going on. He had already paid the sub-contractor and had no idea he was not paying the workers. He immediately made good on $500 of the claim and promises to pay the balance in short order.

The most complicated and most expensive situation to date involves a worker who was employed by a firm based in New York. We found a lawyer who was willing to take on the case, and he calculated that the firm owed the worker in excess of $25,000. From there the process became increasingly convoluted—that lawyer died just as the case was going to trial, and then the worker’s own father died, leaving him emotionally drained. Another lawyer from the firm took over, and a default judgment was won in US district court when the offending employer failed to show up for the court date. Now the issue is collection. The law firm turned it over to a collection agency, which made a few efforts and gave up. At the moment the process is in the hands of another collection agent, who is requesting a large sum of money up front before proceeding.

It has been a considerable education for our committee as well as for the workers who have been so abused. Justice delayed is truly denied!!

The next meeting of the Board of the Community of Friends in Action will be on Thursday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church in Leonia. In addition to the regular business meeting, the session will include a presentation by Johanna Calle, Executive Director of a new immigrants rights organization, the NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ).

The NJAIJ is a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups, labor unions, and other organizations. As of this date there are at least 20 organizations in the coalition. Currently the goals of the coalition are to share information about the Obama Executive Action on Immigration, and to let people know about initiatives that could be passed at the state and local level that would be helpful to immigrants. One of these that would be extremely valuable would be the provision of valid drivers licenses to immigrants without Social Security numbers. Several states already provide such licenses, and, working together, a coalition of New Jersey groups could have a major impact on legislators to achieve this goal.

CoFiA is considering becoming a member of the coalition. Please join us to participate in the discussion and the decision. All welcome. To learn more about NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice go to www.NJimmigrantjustice.org.

“An Afternoon at the Opera” will be offered as a fund-raiser for the Community of Friends in Action on Sunday afternoon, April 16, 2015, at the Presbyterian Church in Leonia at 4:00 p.m. The concert features Jennifer Borghi, a Leonia native who is currently residing in Italy and performing throughout Europe. She will be accompanied by Beth Robin, a Leonia-based pianist who is well-known for her pianistic and accompaniment skills.

The concert will be followed by a champagne and hors d’oeuvres reception.

Tickets are $25 and may be purchased at the door. All proceeds will be donated to the Community of Friends in Action to support our work in immigration reform and assistance to the local immigrant community. For more information call Carolyn Sobering at 201-543-1652 or send an email to us at info@communityoffriendsinaction.org. If you are unable to attend the event but wish to donate, make checks payable to the Community of Friends in Action and mail to us at P.O. Box 313, Leonia, New Jersey, 07605.

CoFiA is very fortunate to have ongoing support from many organizations in our area. Most recently we have received a generous grant of $1000 from the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, as well as similar grants from St. John’s Roman Catholic Church and the Sisters of St. Francis of Peace. Other consistent supporters are the Presbyterian Church in Leonia, the United Methodist Church of Leonia, and Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Palisades Park where we hold our lunch programs. The NJ Korean Cho Won Lutheran Church which meets in that space as well has been wonderfully helpful, including providing a bountiful Korean lunch for hungry workers on a day when CoFiA was not able to be there. In addition, the Palisades Park Health Department and Police Department help us in various ways, including providing free flu shot vouchers for the workers.

Many individuals throughout the Eastern Bergen county area continue to support our work with generous donations, and to offer jobs to workers when possible.

Thanks you, our Community of Friends!

The Community of Friends in Action is honored to announce that on Sunday, April 26, 2015, internationally known soprano Jennifer Borghi will present “An Afternoon at the Opera” concert to benefit our organization. The concert will be at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, 2015, at the Presbyterian Church in Leonia. Tickets are $25, at the door.

Ms. Borghi is a native of Leonia presently living and performing in Italy and throughout Europe. Active as a stage and recording artist as well as a recitalist, she has won prizes in many international competitions.

Ms. Borghi will be accompanied by Beth Robin, a resident of Leonia well-known as an accompanist for choral groups and an active performer of chamber music. She teaches at Thurnauer School of Music.

The concert will be followed by a champagne reception and hors d’oeuvres. For more information call Ellie Spiegel at 201-947-9231.

Palisades Park library has recently expanded its offerings for speakers of Spanish, both adults and children. Librarian Sujeli Contreras offers Spanish Story Time on Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m., Spanish Home Economics on Thursdays at 6:00, and Spanish/English Homework Help on Saturdays at 1 p.m. The Community of Friends continues its ESL classes for adults on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., and a CoFiA member tutors students from the high school by appointment.

CoFiA congratulates Palisades Park Library director Susan Kumar, children’s librarian Steve Cavallo, and librarian Sujeli Contreras for providing these essential services to the growing Spanish speaking community in the town.

CoFiA’s wage-recovery team can claim yet another success, as we settled on March 8, 2015, for two workers. It was one of those rare wage-recovery cases that reveal some of the positive sides of human nature. Our friends worked for a subcontractor aligned with a New-Jersey-based demolition company. The subcontractor billed the company for the work, but failed to pay the men. When the case came to us, all we had was the subcontractor’s first name and telephone number. The subcontractor was uncooperative–so we shifted our detective skills into high gear. If the subcontractor wouldn’t help, could anyone else? We managed to identify a job foreman, who in turn identified the chief contractor. The chief contractor was horrified when we called. “That’s NOT the way we do business!” he told us. The contractor very honorably agreed to pay up–and to settle separately with the subcontractor. The checks arrived, and we cashed them for the workers, and met them for coffee and delivery of the money at our ‘branch office’–the Local Dunkin Donuts.

The Community of Friends in Action announces that it will continue with plans to present a special forum on immigration reform proposals on Monday, February 23, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Broad Avenue at Homestead Street, Palisades Park, New Jersey. The forum is free and open to the public. It will be presented in both Spanish and English.

The speaker is Attorney Michael Wildes, a Managing Partner with the leading immigration law firm of Wildes and Weinberg PC in New York City, Englewood, and Miami, Fl. A former Federal Prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn, he is also an Adjunct Professor Immigration Law and served two terms as the Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey. He was a member of the N.J. Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigration as well.