by Mike Liu
4/16/07

Asian American advocacy groups are cooperating to organize Asian American restaurant deliverymen. Presently, these deliverymen are picketing several well-known chain restaurants, including Saigon Grill, Our Place and Ollie's Noodle Shop and Grille.

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) also announced it has filed a lawsuit against the restaurant chain Saigon Grill on behalf of 36 former Chinese take-out delivery employees. Another lawsuit was directed at Ollie's.

The lawsuits sued owners for paying them hourly wages below the legal minimum of $4.85 for delivery workers, arbitrary charges and fines such as reimbursing the restaurant when robbed, and other violations.

One deliveryman who worked for Ollie’s for nine years, said he earned $750 monthly, but after expenses for his motor bike, he brought home only $250. A server at the Times Square Ollie's alleged her bosses forged fake pay records that claimed staff worked one-third of their actual time. These workers are primarily from Fujian province in southern China.

These chains are million dollar operations monthly, but the delivery workers were paid less than $2 an hour. Representatives of the chains have not responded specifically to the charges. Saigon Grill has locked out its delivery workers.

The law suits were filed in coordination with the Justice will Be Served! Campaign, a coalition of the 318 Restaurant Workers Union, Chinese Staff & Workers' Association, and National Mobilization Against Sweatshops. Recent suits against Chinatown restaurants have resulted in highly publicized multi-million dollar awards for workers.