Chinese Staff and Workers Association (CSWA)

CSWA is frequently involved in litigation against employers, often with the assistance of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). ³ CSWA also uses environmental litigation as a tool to block major development projects in Chinatown and other heavily Asian communities in New York City. ⁵

History and Leadership

The Chinese Staff and Workers Association was founded in 1979 by Wing Lam, who remains the organization’s executive director. ^{2 3}

It claims to represent more than 2,000 workers who are members of the organization. ²

In 2001, Lam was selected as one of the Ford Foundation’s inaugural class of 20 “Leadership for a Changing World” honorees, which included a $100,000 grant. ⁶

Labor Organizing

The Chinese Staff and Workers Association operates a Labor Rights Clinic through which it assists Chinese-immigrant workers in understanding and using American labor laws, including assisting them in organizing their workplaces. ⁷

This does not necessarily mean that they encourage workers to affiliate with major American labor unions, as CSWA and its staff have a contentious relationship with those unions. ^{3 8} CSWA executive director Wing Lam is a former organizer for the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE, later Unite Here), and argues that American labor unions do not do a good job of representing Asian immigrant members and can often be “just for show.” ³

In the late 1970s, Lam was involved in the unionization of the workforce at the Silver Palace Chinese restaurant in New York’s Chinatown by the Hotel Employees-Restaurant Employees (HERE, later Unite Here) labor union. ³ However, the workers became disaffected with the representation provided by HERE and disaffiliated with it in 1980. ³ Lam and other Silver Palace workers founded the CSWA at that time. ³ CSWA and workers at the Silver Palace formed the 318 Restaurant Workers Union, which would expand to represent workers at other Chinatown restaurants. ²

By 2021, the 318 Restaurant Workers Union only represented workers at Jing Fong restaurant in Chinatown. ⁹ In March of that year, the restaurant closed, and its workers were laid off after Jing Fong was evicted by landlords who claimed the restaurant had not paid rent in 12 months. ^{8 10}

Litigation

The Chinese Staff and Workers Association regularly uses litigation as a tactic to advance workers’ interests, often working in concert with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). ³

Employer Litigation

CSWA regularly assists Chinese immigrant workers in filing lawsuits against their employers for violations of labor laws and standards, and frequently refers potential cases to city, state, and federal regulatory agencies for investigation. ³ It often accompanies these legal tactics with picketing or other public campaigns designed to pressure companies into settling on terms favorable to the CSWA and its members, or pressure regulators into taking action on the CSWA’s complaints. ³

Anti-Development Lawsuits

For decades, CSWA has used state and city environmental laws to attempt to block new development projects in Chinatown and other predominantly Asian communities in New York City that it views as changing the character of those neighborhoods. ^{11 11 12 5}

In 1986, CSWA and other Chinatown-based organizations sued New York City over a proposed high-rise residential development in Chinatown, claiming that the city’s approval of the project violated its own environmental ordinances by not taking into account the potential environmental impacts of displacing the local population. ¹¹ While the lower court ruled in the city’s favor, the New York State Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s decision and agreed with CSWA that the city had not met the technical requirements in its environmental ordinances. ¹¹

In 2009, CSWA and other Chinatown-based organizations sued then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) over the city’s rezoning of portions of the Chinatown neighborhood, and characterized the new zoning plans as “racist.” ^{13 14} A New York judge rejected the CSWA’s arguments, finding that the city had complied with the applicable laws and regulations. ¹⁴

In 2012, a similar attempt by CSWA and other plaintiffs to use environmental laws to overturn a rezoning plan in Sunset Park, Brooklyn also failed, with trial and appellate judges finding that the city had complied with the relevant environmental regulations when developing its plans. ^{15 5}

In 2022, CSWA sued over zoning approvals for three residential towers under the New York Constitution’s “right” to clean air and a healthy living environment, which had been added to the state’s constitution via ballot measure in 2021. ¹⁶ It was the first such lawsuit to be filed by a plaintiff in New York City. ¹⁷

Funding

The Chinese Staff and Workers Association receives funding from a variety of individual and foundation donors, including the Ford Foundation, ⁶ the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, ¹⁸ the North Star Fund, ¹⁹ the Tides Foundation, ²⁰ and the William T. Grant Foundation. ²¹