Thread: Aurora, CO Council Member Wants Day Labor Crackdown

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Aug 29, 2006 8:22 am US/Mountain

Aurora Council Member Wants Day Labor Crackdown

Katherine Blake
Reporting

(CBS4) AURORA, Colo. A city council member in Aurora has proposed fining people who hire day laborers off the street. Deborah Wallace said she received complaints about the intersection of Dayton St. and Colfax before she was elected last year.

Wallace said dozens of day laborers head for that area every day looking for work. She said many of them run into the street every time a truck drives by.

Wallace said that creates a safety hazard.

Under her proposal, people who hire day laborers off the street would receive a warning the first time they're caught. After that, they'd be charged with a misdemeanor that currently comes with a fine up to $1,000.

Critics of the proposal said it doesn't address the root cause of the problem.

"We have a lot of folks who are day laborers because they don't have access to a full-time paying job," said Gabriela Flora of the American Friends Service Committee.

"It's not unfair," Wallace said. "If you're legitimately looking for work, there's plenty of work within the city or within the metro area."

The proposal was set to be heard in a committee hearing Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m.

If approved, the measure would be sent to a study session of the full city council.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/97 ... etail.html

Council Woman Says Day Laborers Exploited
Ordinance Proposes To Protect Set Pay, Medical Care For Workers

POSTED: 4:36 pm MDT August 29, 2006
UPDATED: 5:04 pm MDT August 29, 2006

AURORA, Colo. -- On the eve of a big immigration hearing in Aurora, a city council member is pitching a proposal that could affect many undocumented workers.

Deborah Wallace said she wants to make it tougher for employers to hire day laborers on city streets.

A council committee met Tuesday afternoon to consider Wallace's proposal.

Wallace said she is trying to protect the undocumented workers who offer their services to prospective employers each morning. Those workers, she said, are often exploited and have few labor rights and protection.

"You work nine hours and somebody drops you off and hands you a ten dollar bill and takes you to 7-11 to get something cold to drink," said Wallace. "When they come out, the people are gone and they never got paid."

Under Wallace's proposed ordinance, employers would have to guarantee those workers set pay, medical care and transportation. Employers would be fined $500 if they did not comply with the law.

"It doesn't stop them from hiring (workers). But what it does say is, if you hire (workers), these are the things that we are asking you do," said Wallace.

Critics of the idea said the proposed ordinance would not change the way undocumented workers are treated. One immigration rights advocates said Wallace is going about the issue the wrong way.

"Finding people who hire day laborers is not the solution. Instead we need to be enforcing law we have on the books," said Gabriela Flora of American Friends Service Community. "We need to be doing things to strengthen workers rights and increase minimum wage."

"The problem is, they will just relocate and find another spot to stand," said Aurora resident Freddie Newman.

Wallace said the current method of employment isn't working.

"For right now I don't see another way," said Wallace.

Wallace first became interested in this issue when concerns about traffic on Colfax were brought to her attention. That interest expanded to include concerns about the rights of the day laborers.

Wallace's code committee, which she chairs, met Tuesday afternoon to discuss the proposed ordinance.

The committee is considering the issue if day laborers moved to surrounding cities such as Denver to offer their services if the ordinance passes in Aurora.

The committee is also determining whether the proposed ordinance is even legal.

Some have said if this proposed ordinance passes, it will end up in court.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com

Wrong tack on day laborers
Aurora doesn't need restrictive ordinance

August 31, 2006

The Aurora City Council, a constant source of imaginative if not always workable ideas, is putting up another trial balloon.

This time, rookie Councilwoman Deborah Wallace is trying to solve two problems with a single ordinance: The day laborers and their would-be employers who tie up traffic at certain intersections, and the occasional stiffing of these laborers by a few employers.

Wallace would impose a fine of up to $1,000 on both laborers and employers who negotiate in a "No Vehicle Solicitation" zone.

And she would impose another $1,000 fine on employers who fail to provide laborers with a form that includes the employer's name and address, the wage rate, job description, description of meal benefits, where they'll be taken if they get hurt, and where they will be dropped off at day's end.

A council committee looked at this ordinance Tuesday and decided it needed more study. And so it does.

The traffic problem could probably be solved through existing ordinances, and employment issues aren't really within the purview of municipal government.

With any luck, this idea will meet the same fate as some others the council has contemplated in recent months, such as a proposed sales tax hike for mental health, advertising at city recreation facilities, extra sales tax on soda pop and granting tax breaks to new businesses who "Buy Aurora."

The problem intersection where employers try to meet temporary employees each morning is at East Colfax Avenue and Dayton Street. Trucks stop to pick up laborers, thus blocking traffic, and the men sometimes risk their lives dashing across the street.

But the city already has ordinances prohibiting loitering and tying up traffic. These could be invoked by police if they wanted to make the effort.

Better than an arrest policy, however, would be finding a private parking lot in the neighborhood - one owned by a nonprofit, perhaps - where employers and laborers could gather and bargain. The problem is better solved through negotiation than ordinance.

Making sure laborers get paid what they've been promised is a trickier issue. But according to the Colorado Municipal League, it is rarely if ever tackled by municipal government. That's because the problem often crosses city bounds. Supposing the laborer is picked up in Aurora and works in Denver, or vice versa? And what kind of bureaucracy would the city have to establish to enforce an ordinance of this type?

The state and the federal government both require that labor contracts and laws be honored. And the laws don't exempt any group of workers from protection.

We suspect, however, that in most cases the contracts are self-enforcing. If employers cheat their hires, who is going to sign on with them when they return to the same corner? Word gets around.

Councilwoman Wallace means well, and the problem to some extent is real. But the solution doesn't lie in her proposed ordinance.