Last week's annual Al Smith Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria--a white-tie dinner at-tended by the mayor, the governor, and the city's power elite--is the kind of A-list event regularly hosted by the hotel. Whenever the president and other heads of state sit down to enjoy a sumptuous meal at the Waldorf, the banquet manager attends to all the details, including the placement of the silverware, tablecloths, and even how the napkins are folded. Yet a few miles and a world away from the pomp and glitter, men and women, many of whom are immigrants from places like Guadalajara and San Luis Potosí, are sorting, cleaning, and stacking the linens that will adorn those same tables. They work for $5.15 an hour in a Staten Island commercial laundromat, where some claim they put in 80 to 90 hours a week with no health benefits, vacation, or sick time. In some cases, they work outside, in snow and rain, unloading... More >>>