A Phone App Helps Day Laborers Attack Wage Theft (nytimes.com)

An anonymous reader writes with this story from the New York Times, excerpting "After three years of planning, an immigrant rights group in Jackson Heights is set to start a smartphone app for day laborers, a new digital tool with many uses: Workers will be able to rate employers (think Yelp or Uber), log their hours and wages, take pictures of job sites and help identify, down to the color and make of a car, employers with a history of withholding wages. They will also be able to send instant alerts to other workers. The advocacy group will safeguard the information and work with lawyers to negotiate payment." Adds the submitter: "Although I completely support the app, personally, I see this encountering some significant legal challenges. Hope they've lawyered up." Though the use case is different, this is similar in spirit to "cop watch" apps, like Cell411 and the ACLU's Mobile Justice. (And of course there's Periscope.)

Comments

Translate "day laborer" to "illegal alien" please.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why should I give a fuck about illegal immigrants losing money? Especially illegals who can afford smartphones with data plans? The sooner these jerks run out of money, the sooner they give up and go home. If they're tired of being robbed, maybe they should stop committing crimes and return to being law abiding citizens? In their home countries, that is.

The tradeoff for receiving the benefits of a law abiding society is that you, too, have to abide by the law. You don't want to follow my country's laws? Then you don't get to benefit from my country's laws, economy, culture, or society.

Get a visa? Welcome, brother. Immigrate legally? The more the merrier. Break into my country? You are my enemy forever. Get the fuck out, and go to the very back of the line. Behind all the other 6 billion trying to move to the 1st world. I've met too many naturalized citizens to let your line-jumping ass disgrace their sacrifice and commitment to *our* country.

Re:Takers!

[PopeRatzo]

Do you actually think that expecting a days pay for a days worth of work is socialism

That is actually one of the most prominent parts of the Republican Party's platform.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were t-shirts and bumper stickers on sale at CPAC with "Expecting A Day's Work For A Day's Pay Is Socialism" on them.