From The Peopling of New York City

Interview with Monami Maulik

Monami Maulik is a young organizer, activist, and advocate for Desis Rising Up & Moving. She holds the position of Executive Director at the organization.

Lakshman Kalasapudi: What sort of work does DRUM do with immigrant workers? What are the conditions for immigrant workers in Jackson Heights right now?

Monami Maulik: Most of our members are undocumented immigrants who cannot advocate for themselves due to legal restrictions. While we mostly deal with the immigration process and youth programs, DRUM is setting up a South Asian Workers Center this summer. We hope to create a hub where potential employees and employers can meet. We hope to provide English classes, Computer classes, and other advancement skills for our members to be better qualified and skilled for jobs. This center could also be a sort of union that barter for better wages and set the standard of proper employment. The situation right now is “bad”. Many workers are undocumented and that’s why they cannot be paid well or have good working conditions. The employers know that they are in a vulnerable situation and and abuse that. Many times the workers work long hours every day for only $30 or $40 dollars. The employers don’t always pay them on time either. Often the salaries are either given weeks or months afterwards or they say they’ll give the money to someone back home (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.) or they just never give the money at all. And the workers can’t do anything about it because if they quit, they’ll have nowhere else to work. That’s why with our new Worker’s Center, we hope to set standards for salary levels and maximum working hours.

LK: Why do these sorts of conditions happens? Don’t the workers work with people from their own community?

MM: Because workers are employed by people from their own community, they employers can threaten to defame their employees in their own community. They would talk bad things about their employees and spread rumors and lies that bring shame to their employees in the community. This scares the employees.

LK: Do you have any interaction with the Jackson Heights’s Merchant Association? Do you plan to? Is there a Bangladeshi merchant’s association for the 73rd St businesses.

MM: As of now, we do not. We know they exist, they know we’re around, but there is no interaction. With the Worker’s Center, we hope to interact with them when setting standards for workers. I don’t know of what the exact name of the Bangladeshi business organization is as of yet, but we would work with them as well. There are so many class, race, and religious tensions between the two merchants’ associations as well as our workers.

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