Workers Charge Fisher Island Corps With Discrimination; File Complaint With EOB Over Segregation on Private Ferry
MIAMI, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Housekeeping and landscaping workers on Fisher Island, the nation’s wealthiest zip code, will file a class action complaint with the Miami-Dade Equal Opportunity Board on Thursday over discriminatory practices that segregate the mostly Haitian, Hispanic and African-American workers from the other passengers on the Fisher Island Ferry service.
“We work hard, but we are not treated like human beings,” said Marie Fanfan, one of the plaintiffs. Fanfan has worked as a housekeeper for six years on Fisher Island. “Fisher Island employees are standing up today for equal treatment.”
After filing the complaint, Fisher Island workers and community supporters will gather in Little Haiti at the Jean Jacques Desallines Center for the premier screening of the documentary “Wake Up Fisher Island!” Paid for by SEIU and produced by documentary film maker Amie Williams, the documentary contrasts the great wealth on the island with personal and potent interviews with workers who talk about the dehumanizing conditions they face on the island, including being called peasants and being told to stop speaking in their native language.
WHAT: Media Availability with Fisher Island workers Filing an Equal Opportunity Board complaint followed by the premier screening of the documentary “Wake Up Fisher Island!” WHO: Nearly a dozen Fisher Island worker plaintiffs to the case Marleine Bastien, Executive Director FANM WHEN: Media Availabilty: Thursday, October 18, 4:30 p.m. 2525 NW 62nd Street Screening of “Wake Up Fisher Island!” documentary Thursday, October 18, 7:00 p.m. 8325 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami (Jean Jacques Desallines Center and FANM)
Service Employees International Union
CONTACT: Tanya Aquino of SEIU, +1-321-960-3802
Web Site: http://www.seiu.org/