Worker Justice Center

Our Worker Justice Center works with community members, local employers and state and federal agencies to pursue justice for those who have been denied their rights.

Employees who have work-related problems, high utility bills, or payday loans are helped directly through our Worker Center.  Those who have legal problems are referred to an appropriate attorney.  Others are referred to social service agencies that provide food, shelter, and medical assistance.

Our Center is a joint effort by Sunflower Community Action, Wichita-Hutchinson Labor Federation, Interfaith Worker Justice and SEIU Local 513.  We unite all workers - male and female workers, white, Hispanic, African-American and Asian workers, immigrant workers and the native-born,  to pursue social and economic justice through community empowerment and advocacy for institutional change.

Wage theft, the failure to pay workers the wages owed to them, has consequences for all of us - for workers, our local economy,  and for tax-payers.

Employees and their families suffer when they don’t get paid.  Our well-meaning and honest business owners suffer when forced to compete with companies shaving down operating costs through breaking the law.  Finally, when workers go without pay, tax revenues are shorted as well.

In addition to stealing wages, unscrupulous employers also ignore worker safety precautions, which results in a high rate of injury.  A worker is “worthy of his hire”, and Sunflower is working with the state and federal departments of labor to bring justice to these workplaces.

 

What We’ve Done

• Served as catalyst for a bill in the Kansas legislature that would create more incentive for employers to treat workers fairly
• Educated hundreds of Kansans about the need for greater worker justice