The Decent Thing to Do: A Labor Day Reflection from South Korea
By Lorelei Salas, DCA Commissioner
Labor Day marks the end of the summer and for many it is a time to take one last trip to the beach or to throw a barbecue. But we should also take the time to reflect on the history of the day — it’s a day to celebrate our workforce. It has been nearly 125 years since Labor Day was declared a federal holiday and yet it is difficult to feel festive today. Unfortunately, less than a week ago, a Texas federal judge invalidated the Obama administration’s rule extending overtime protections to white collar workers, a long-awaited change that would have given close to 4.2 million workers additional pay if they worked over 40 hours in a week. This is bad news for U.S. workers though not unexpected in the current political climate. Still, the shrinking of federal legal protections should not paralyze us but rather it should energize us to keep moving forward.
This week, I am participating in the 2017 International Forum on Transforming Cities for Decent Work in Seoul, South Korea, where leaders from cities from around the world will gather to talk about employment, social protection, and rights at work. As we near 125 years dedicated to celebrating our country’s labor movement, South Korea is celebrating 30 years since its Great Workers’ Struggle of 1987, a milestone in the fight for democratic labor unions in the country.
I’m finding the labor issues in South Korea are strikingly similar to those in NYC — from minimum wage increases being phased in while many workers still experience wage theft (and both New York and South Korea announcing millions in wages being returned to workers just last week); to enduring and strong support for workers to organize and unionized strikes like Spectrum in NYC and the “irregular women workers“ who are contract workers at public schools in South Korea, gender pay gaps, and discussions and decisions on what types of personal information employers can ask job applicants; to the income instability of the contingent workforces and the creation of municipal offices dedicated to labor policy.
This week’s crucial conversation could be the start of a long-distance partnership of progressive cities that place workers’ right to respect and dignity in the workplace at the forefront. One of the goals of the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” and forum participants will have an opportunity to talk about how their offices contribute toward making this goal a reality.
In New York City we are plowing ahead with this vital work. Just this past June, Mayor Bill de Blasio released a 10-year plan to create 100,000 jobs that pay at least $50,000 a year or offer a clear path to that salary level. Coupled with good paying jobs, the Mayor has also committed City resources to launch the Office of Labor Policy and Standards (OLPS), the largest municipal office of its kind in the U.S., within DCA. With the mission to protect and promote labor standards and polices that create fair workplaces, OLPS enforces several key municipal workplace laws designed to strengthen working conditions across a number of industries. And by providing funding to legal services organizations that represent workers with a variety of issues, the City is helping to redress violations of state and federal labor laws that it otherwise does not have the power to resolve.
This Labor Day let’s move forward together and continue a local conversation about where we go as a city — and as global citizens — who care about our workforces not only because it promotes a sustainable economy, but most importantly because it is the decent thing to do.
Lorelei Salas is the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs, which houses the City’s Office of Labor Policy and Standards. Learn more about the office at nyc.gov/dca.
