Thread: Bill proposes more protections for day laborers

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Bill proposes more protections for day laborers
By Emelie Rutherford/ Daily News Staff
Tuesday, May 9, 2006

BOSTON -- Some state lawmakers are backing a bill to better protect day laborers, a class of workers that includes illegal immigrants at times subjected to dangerous working conditions.

Legislation before a State House committee would require contractors and temp agencies that hire day laborers to disclose details about each job in advance, including where the assignment is, how far away it is, what the pay is, what type of safety equipment and training is needed and what the hazards are.

State Sen. Pamela Resor, D-Acton, said such protections are needed because day laborers sometimes are picked up for jobs without knowing they are about to face dangerous work they are not prepared to do. The workers sometimes unwittingly end up riding many hours to jobs without being compensated for the travel time, she said.

"It really is not a good situation,and I think this bill goes a long way to addressing some of the safety and health concerns," Resor said.

Resor, Senate vice chairwoman of the joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development that advanced the day laborers legislation this spring, said she heard "horrendous stories about how the day laborers are treated" from people testifying at the State House in favor of the protections.

The legislation is now before the Senate Ways and Means Committee, though it is not clear if that committee will vote to send it to the Senate floor for a vote this year.

The bill's proponents include state Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty, D-Chelsea, House chairman of the joint Judiciary Committee, and state Sen. Thomas McGee, D-Lynn, Senate chairman of the Labor and Workforce Development Committee.

Under the bill, employers who do not provide day laborers with information in advance about the jobs they are taking would face fines from $250 to $1,250 a day.

The bill also prohibits employers from charging day laborers for tools, safety equipment and clothes they need to do the jobs.

Resor said the bill would apply to illegal immigrants working as day laborers.

"We shouldn't be taking advantage of the fact that they're undocumented, so this applies to all (day laborers)," Resor said.

Framingham's Jim Rizoli of the anti-illegal immigration group CCFIILE said he agrees immigrants regardless of their status need protection.

"If they're gonna allow them to work there anyway, they need to make sure they're not abused," Rizoli said.

But he said the practice of hiring day laborers who are illegal immigrants -- which he said happens regularly in downtown Framingham -- should not be condoned.

"You don't want anybody to be abused, but the point is they're not supposed to be working there in the first place, and I think everyone's missing the point," Rizoli said.

Matthew Doucette, manager at CLP Resources in Natick, said the legislation makes sense. He said his company, which arranges work for day laborers, provides some of the protections called for in the bill. Yet day laborers who do work without a middleman do not have as much support, he said.

The Massachusetts AFL-CIO and Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health released a report two weeks ago that found immigrant workers often work in the most dangerous industries and jobs, are exploited by employers and are given little or no training or protections.

(Emelie Rutherford can be reached at 617-722-2495 or erutherford@cnc.com.)

Here's a novel idea. How about enforcing the existing laws instead. Then there won't be any reason to make new laws.