It was practically slave labor.
State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada paid janitors as little as $1.70 per hour through a sham job-training program that helped him line his own pockets, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo charged in the state’s latest lawsuit against the embattled Democrat.
Cuomo — a Democrat expected to run for governor — slapped Espada with a civil suit yesterday, claiming the Bronx politician exploited 100 janitors by making them work for two weeks at a time without benefits as part of a bogus job-training program, instead of hiring them as full-time employees.
“They cheated me out of my time and services,” said Shahking Gomez, 30, a Bronx father who was out of work for a year when he started working at Espada’s Soundview health-care center.
Gomez said he was told he’d have to complete a two-week “training program” for which he’d be paid $200 before he could get a full-time gig.
“I figured, $200, oh, well, as long as I get a permanent position.”
But the “training program” wasn’t any different from normal work, and at the end of the two weeks, Gomez said he was given a certificate and his walking papers. He was told there were no permanent openings.
“I thought [Espada] was here to help us, but obviously, I was wrong,” said the married father of a 6-year-old son.
Espada awarded Espada Management, run by his son, Pedro G. Espada, a contract to do maintenance work for Soundview, which is funded by taxpayers.
The nearly $400,000 annual contract was renewed over a five-year period, with the Espadas pocketing a combined $540,000, Cuomo charged.
The gains represented the difference between what they shelled out and the fair wages they should have been paying, Cuomo said. State minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
Cuomo noted that Espada recently chastised farmers for exploiting their workers during a Senate debate over a bill granting new protections to field hands.
“This is a man who says he’s there to defend the people, the people, it’s all about the people, and then he victimizes and exploits people who come to him for help,” Cuomo said.
Espada accused Cuomo of “an attempt at political assassination,” and said he ran a legitimate job-training program.
Espada questioned why Cuomo did not reveal any of yesterday’s details in his first bombshell lawsuit, announced last week.
That suit, which coincides with a criminal investigation, accuses Espada of siphoning off $14 million in taxpayer money through Soundview.
“What did the attorney general not know last week that he is spewing out this week?” Espada fumed.
Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter, Espada’s opposition in a Democratic primary, said, “It’s clear that he has completely shattered the public’s trust.”
Additional reporting by Fredric U. Dicker in Albany