Wage-theft

The Northwest Arkansas Workers’ Justice Center (NWAWJC) recovered nearly $581,000 over the last six years in unpaid wages and workplace claims for low-income workers. Support for hard-working families is now more urgent than ever with the number of Latino immigrant workers doubling in Arkansas between 2000 and 2010.

“Wage theft is a common issue for low-income workers with limited English proficiency and lack of experience in the local workforce,” said Jose Aguayo, executive director of NWAWJC. “We stand up for vulnerable families in our communities and help them understand their rights to safe working conditions and fair pay.”

The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation recently invested $145,000 in the NWAWJC to mobilize and empower immigrant workers. NWAWJC helps low-wage workers overcome unethical labor practices through organizing, advocacy, and education on workers’ rights.

Arkansas’s immigrant population is rapidly increasing according to WRF’s report A Profile of Immigrants in Arkansas 2013. Our state had the fourth-fastest-growing immigrant population nationwide between 2000 and 2010, with the foreign-born population increasing by 82 percent.

“NWAWJC is moving the needle on poverty in Arkansas by stopping wage theft and improving workplace conditions for more than 700 low-wage workers in the last four years,” said Dr. Sherece Y. West-Scantlebury, president and CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. “NWAWJC is guaranteeing justice and employment equity for hard-working immigrant families.”

About the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
For over 35 years, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation has helped to build and sustain the organizations that serve and strengthen Arkansas. Through grantmaking and strategic partnerships, we are working hard to help close the economic and educational gaps that leave too many Arkansas families in persistent poverty. www.wrfoundation.org

About the Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center
Established as a nonprofit organization in 2005, the Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center advocates for the improvement of workers’ conditions in the Ozarks region through representation, education, and mobilization of workers by involving persons of faith and values in support of workers’ rights. www.nwawjc.org