On Tuesday, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos—Immigrant Workers Project (CTU-IWP) held a press conference to support businesses that have taken action to raise workplace standards and promote respectful treatment of their workers by signing the Community Alliance for Respect and Empowerment (C.A.R.E.) Community Agreement. Workers, business owners, community organizations, and elected officials will express their support for the C.A.R.E. Community Agreement and urge all business owners to sign the agreement. The C.A.R.E. Community Agreement Campaign is a response to the overwhelming wage-theft that occurs in southeast Chicago. According to a 2010 study conducted by the Center for Urban and Economic Development at UIC, low-wage workers in Chicago and surrounding Cook County lose more than $7.3 million per week due to labor and wage law violations. The scope and depth of wage theft is especially significant for Latino immigrant workers. CTU-IWP conducted its own study and found two out of every five low-wage workers experienced some form of wage-theft, with women more likely than men to experience wage theft, 46 percent versus 31 percent respectively.

“The revitalization of our local economy relies on the respectful treatment of our workforce,” said Alderwoman Susan Sadlowski Garza who wholeheartedly supports the C.A.R.E. Community Agreement. “Our employers should provide a fair and equitable wage, sick days, and a safe and respectful workplace.” The Community Alliance for Respect and Empowerment (C.A.R.E.) Campaign incorporates leadership development and grassroots worker training and organizing to shift the balance of power in our communities that extends beyond the workplace. “The lack of financial security is one of the main reasons why victims of domestic violence remain with their abusers. As an employer and a service provider of primarily women we avidly supports the respectful treatment of women in the workplace,” said Joyce M. Coffee, the executive director of Family Rescue.