In New Orleans, 80 percent of restaurant workers are paid less than what they are entitled to receive.

Surveys show 60 percent of nursing homes underpay their workers.

And right here in New York, thousands of garment workers and farm workers have been denied full pay.

"Wage theft is something that isn't talked about," said NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi. "Unfortunately, it couldn't be a more poignant time for us to come together for those workers who need wages the most."

Iannuzzi and Albany Roman Catholic Bishop Howard Hubbard, co-chairs of the state Labor-Religion Coalition, kicked off the coalition's 14th annual 40-hour fast.

Thousands of New Yorkers around the state abstained from eating solid food from 8 p.m. March 4 through noon, March 6. The fast this year focused on "coming together for the common good" and drew attention to the all-too-common practice of wage theft.

"We're talking about millions of working Americans who have their earnings actually stolen from them," Iannuzzi said.

Author and worker activist Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, used the fast's kickoff to launch a national campaign against wage theft.

"This crisis is not somewhere else, it's right around us," Bobo said. In her book Wage Theft in America: Why Millions of Working Americans Are Not Getting Paid — And What We Can Do About It, Bobo describes wage theft as ranging from workers being paid less than minimum wage or denied overtime, to employers stealing tips or not paying workers at all.

Education is one way to combat the problem, Iannuzzi said. Enforcement of existing laws is another.

In January, state Labor Commissioner Patricia Smith launched the Wage Watch program to empower community groups to report wage abuses.

Unions are critical in the fight against wage theft, which makes supporting the Employee Free Choice Act even more important, said Mary Sullivan, executive vice president of the Civil Service Employees Association.

"In this moment, what better way is there to stimulate the economy than actually paying workers all the wages they deserve? This is one crisis we know how to solve," said Bobo.

Bishop Hubbard encouraged community members and lawmakers to work together to pull everyone through the current economic crisis.

"May we as a nation of liberty and justice for all never steal from anyone, especially those who build up this country by the sweat of their brow," Hubbard added.

Contact Clarisse Butler Banks at cbanks@nysutmail.org