Chinese Progressive Association Statement on Sunshine Travel Case

In the current economic crisis, we all want our community businesses to thrive and recognize that they are important employers for our community. But the recession cannot become a free pass to exploit immigrant workers, the most vulnerable members of our community. The Chinese Progressive Association calls on our community to support small businesses that provide decent jobs to workers.

Last month, 10 bus drivers hired by Sunshine Travel owner Lorraine Tse came to the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) to report serious workplace problems, including wage violations, requiring a $2,000 deposit per driver as a condition of hire, unlawful docking of pay for cleaning and bus repairs, forced falsification of time logs, and 12 to 18-hour workdays that violate safety standards.

Beginning March 19, CPA assisted the workers with drafting and sending a letter to Ms. Tse in an attempt to resolve the problems without confrontation or legal action. Ms. Tse and her lawyer both responded that she would only meet with her lawyer present. CPA continued to support the workers' call for Ms. Tse to meet directly with them and try to resolve the issue without lawyers involved.

At the appointed meeting time on April 3, Ms. Tse did not show up. Instead, CPA received a letter stating that she would not meet without her lawyer. Sunshine Travel next held a press conference at their offices the following Monday. At that point, the workers decided to distribute flyers quickly produced with CPA's assistance, filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office of Fair Labor and Business Practices, and arranged to hold a press conference later that week to tell their side of the story.

Throughout this time, the workers continued to call on Ms. Tse to meet with them directly and address the issues out of court.

Some people believe that CPA overreacted by distributing (for two days in April) an initial, quickly-produced flyer exclaiming that “Sunshine Travel steals workers’ pay” and calling the police to secure our office against trespassing by the employer.

We believe that CPA is primarily guilty of being unprepared for a series of confrontational and rapidly escalating actions by the employer. First, an agent of the employer came into the CPA office under false pretences to take photographs at a workers’ meeting and refused to leave the premises until removed by the police. Even after holding their own press conference, some ten representatives of Sunshine Travel attempted to barge into the workers’ press conference at CPA later that week. Next, Sunshine Travel brought CPA to court in an unsuccessful attempt to stop CPA and the workers from publishing and distributing flyers about the case. In the United States, a private party that is able to spend money on lawyers’ fees can bring a civil lawsuit against another party even when the facts do not bear out the case.

When the court denied them the broad injunction they sought, Sunshine Travel tried to call the police on CPA and the workers to stop us from distributing flyers in Chinatown. The police acknowledged our right to freedom of speech, but Sunshine Travel has continued to publish almost daily attacks on the bus drivers and CPA. Their same lawyer’s office that sent the agent with the camera into our office to intimidate the workers has also sent letters to CPA’s non-profit partners in an attempt to isolate us.

It is ironic that Sunshine Travel is suing CPA for “defamation,” since it is the employer who has published countless flyers and full-page advertisements calling CPA “evil and poison-hearted,” calling us “the Red Guard” and accusing us of stealing their logo.
CPA’s Workers Center focuses on helping Chinese workers learn about workplace rights in the US and to take collective action to obtain their rights. Because employees have less power or resources than the employer, we help workers develop a unified voice and learn to use community, political, or consumer support as leverage for direct settlement of disputes. We also can provide assistance with filing government complaints or legal referrals. We are organizers and advocates, not arbitrators, but our approach has generally been to minimize confrontation in settling complaints.

We had, perhaps naively, hoped that the Sunshine Travel case could be resolved without dragging either the employer or the workers through expensive and prolonged legal action. Despite the one of recent Chinese language ads and media reports, CPA and the drivers have continued to call for negotiation.

Today, the drivers are again attempting to meet with Sunshine Travel in good faith.

In the meantime, CPA continues to support the Sunshine Travel bus drivers, and we will not be intimidated by name-calling, biased reporting, tricks, or frivolous lawsuits. We continue in our commitment to helping workers secure their rights to full compensation, compliance with workplace and public safety standards, and dignity on the job. Only when our community businesses uphold decent standards for the workers can our community economy develop in a healthy way.