KOREATOWN : Janitors Press for $150,000 in Pay

Korean and Latino janitors gathered last week at a U.S. Department of Labor office to call for a federal investigation of a Koreatown-based cleaning company they accuse of defrauding employees and subcontractors.

The janitors and a workers’ advocacy group gathered Thursday at federal offices in Glendale to publicize their campaign to recover more than $150,000 in unpaid back wages they say are due them from the Koreatown-based A-1 Building Maintenance Co.

“We have been deceived,” said Thomas Argumedo, a former A-1 employee who claims he is owed for months of work. “We want justice.”

A spokesman for the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates, a group that has organized the effort against A-1 and its owner, Jin Yang, said the two-dozen janitors would also be asking the district attorney’s office to investigate the case.

Attorney Thomas Bleau, who represents Yang, could not be reached for comment. Bleau has maintained that his client is an honest businessman who has been victimized by a bad economy.

The advocacy group claims that A-1 purchased contracts from building owners and then found subcontractors to do the work, a common industry practice. But some of those subcontractors say their paychecks from A-1 slowed or even stopped as time went on, and they turned to the advocacy group a few months ago.

Those subcontractors, all from the Korean community, were joined in their complaints last month by several Latino janitors, all of them direct employees of A-1. Lee said the claims by those employees has placed the dispute within the purview of the Department of Labor. The employees filed wage claims with the federal agency last week.