Thread: Labor law is likely to pass in Vista

http://www.signonsandiego.com

Labor law is likely to pass in Vista


City ordinance would regulate curbside hiring
By Matthew Rodriguez and Elena Gaona
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
June 25, 2006

VISTA – A few dozen day laborers stood around the strip mall parking lot at Escondido and South Santa Fe avenues one day last week, sipping coffee and eating doughnuts while waiting for “bosses” to drive up and signal them to hop into their trucks.

By 9 a.m., two employers had come by the site looking for a worker wanting to put in a day of manual labor. It used to be that by that time of the morning a dozen bosses had shown up.

The workers say they expect the number of employers to dwindle to zero once the Vista City Council casts what is expected to be a second unanimous vote Tuesday to approve an ordinance regulating curbside hiring.

And that seems to be what council members hope will be the effect of the new law.

Mayor Morris Vance said Friday that he doesn't want the busy intersection used as an informal hiring site any longer. City officials have said they would work with a nonprofit organization interested in opening and operating a hiring hall or site elsewhere.

For several years, the city has been faced with the issue of day laborers – predominantly Latino – who congregate at the busy intersection looking for work. Some nearby shop owners say the men disrupt business. Others say they rely on the day laborers as customers.

In recent weeks, the site has become a place of protest for Minutemen-style groups that oppose illegal immigration.

During the last council meeting June 13, about 100 people packed the chambers, with speakers arguing both sides of the issue. The council unanimously approved a first reading of the ordinance, and it will become law July 28 if approved again Tuesday.

The ordinance has drawn criticism from day laborer advocates and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties, which said in a letter that the ordinance “may well be unconstitutional.” Local pro-immigration advocates plan to hold a rally Tuesday evening to coincide with the council meeting. Protesters plan to form a “human chain” along the half-mile route between the day laborer site and City Hall.

The Vista ordinance would require employers who seek to hire day laborers to register with the city. The registration would last at least a year. Employers also would be required to display certificates on their vehicle windows while hiring day laborers. They would need to provide the worker with a “term sheet” describing the job and the wage.

Vista's ordinance, which seems to be unique, isn't the first attempt to regulate day laborer hiring. About 50 cities in Southern California have enacted laws to restrict such solicitation, said Chris Newman, legal programs coordinator for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network in Los Angeles. Some of the stricter laws in Los Angeles, Redondo Beach and Glendale have been overturned by federal district courts.

In 1990, Encinitas enacted an ordinance prohibiting curbside hiring, but a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the law on First Amendment grounds. The City Council soon repealed the law.

Vista City Attorney Darold Pieper said those ordinances went much further than the Vista ordinance by trying to ban curbside hiring altogether.

The Vista ordinance only requires employers to register with the city, and then they could continue to hire workers at so-called uncontrolled locations.

City code compliance officers and sheriff's deputies would enforce the ordinance, city officials have said.

Assistant City Manager Rick Dudley said the city would provide employers and day laborers with information about the ordinance at the site before it becomes law. A Spanish-language version is being considered, Dudley said.

Abel Valenzuela Jr., an associate professor at UCLA, said the ordinance won't necessarily drive away employers, but could move exchanges underground.

“Day labor will continue to exist as long as you have demand,” Valenzuela said.

More than a dozen men interviewed this week said they didn't think employers would sign up with the city. Victor Lopez, 23, of El Salvador said regular demonstrations by Minutemen-style groups have scared away employers, and requiring would-be employers to register with the city only would make matters worse.

“I don't know what to believe. They say they want to help us. But I think they're taking our work away,” Lopez said, clasping an empty energy drink can. “I came here for a better future, to help my family, not to cause trouble.”

Though sometimes employers don't pay them, it's not the norm, workers said. The men tip each other off about which employers have treated them badly, they said. Several said they believe the ordinance is really meant to appease anti-illegal-immigrant activists, not to protect workers who never asked for it.

“What we really need is work,” said Frank Villa, 36, of Mexico. “If the Minutemen want to come hire us, they're welcome to stop by.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew Rodriguez: (760) 476-8245; matthew.rodriguez@uniontrib.com

The workers say they expect the number of employers to dwindle to zero once the Vista City Council casts what is expected to be a second unanimous vote Tuesday to approve an ordinance regulating curbside hiring.

I hope the employers DO get the message that they are breaking the law.

The ordinance has drawn criticism from day laborer advocates and groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego & Imperial Counties, which said in a letter that the ordinance “may well be unconstitutional.”

Hurry and come up with a legal loophole you bunch of crooks! Like you care anything for our Constitution... pishaw!