A
community activist group has filed a complaint with State Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer alleging that a Bushwick supermarket illegally withheld more than
a million dollars in wages and overtime pay from workers.

More than 50 immigrant retail workers, organized by the
Workers in Action Project at Make the Road by Walking, a community activist group, began a protest
campaign yesterday and said they plan to picket in front of the Associated
Supermarket on Knickerbocker Avenue until they are paid what they consider to
be reasonable wages. Some made less than minimum wage, activists said.

"We’re
going to be here every day during peak hours until they pay our workers," (Make the Road by Walking
Co-Director) Andrew
Friedman, co-adviser of the umbrella group, said. "Our
people deserve reasonable salaries, health benefits and the opportunity to work
in dignified conditions, and we’ll be out here until they get it."

The supermarket’s manager could not be reached for comment yesterday.