Thread: Day-Labor Issue Widespread in U.S.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... ers22.html

Day-labor issue widespread in U.S.
Workers surveyed around the nation

Steven Greenhouse
New York Times
Jan. 22, 2006 12:00 AM

The first nationwide study on day laborers has found that such workers are a nationwide phenomenon, with 117,600 people gathering at more than 500 hiring sites to look for work on a typical day.

The survey found that three-fourths of day laborers were illegal immigrants and that more than half said employers had cheated them on wages in the previous two months.

The study found that 49 percent of day laborers were employed by homeowners and 43 percent by construction contractors. They were found to be employed most frequently as construction laborers, landscapers, painters, roofers and drywall installers.

The study, based on interviews with 2,660 workers at 264 hiring sites in 20 states and the District of Columbia, found that day laborers earned a median of $10 an hour and $700 month. The study said that only a small number earned more than $15,000 a year.

The professors who conducted the study said the most surprising finding was the pervasiveness of wage violations and dangerous conditions that day laborers faced.

"We were disturbed by the incredibly high incidence of wage violations," said one of the study's authors, Nik Theodore of the University of Illinois-Chicago. "We also found a very high level of injuries."

Forty-nine percent of those interviewed said that in the previous two months an employer had not paid them for one or more days' work. Forty-four percent said some employers did not give them any breaks during the workday, while 28 percent said employers had insulted them.

Another of the study's authors, Abel Valenzuela Jr. of the University of California-Los Angeles, said: "This is a labor market that thrives on cheap wages and the fact that most of these workers are undocumented. They're in a situation where they're extremely vulnerable, and employers know that and take advantage of them."

In some communities, tensions have soared over day-labor sites, with complaints that the workers interrupt traffic, block sidewalks, trespass on store property and litter. In addition, the laborers have become the target of groups opposed to illegal immigrants.

The survey found that 59 percent of day laborers were from Mexico and 28 percent from Central America, while 7 percent were born in the United States. Sixty percent of immigrant workers said day labor was their first occupation in the United States.

The margin of error for the survey was not available.

While waiting for work Friday in the Pico Union section of Los Angeles, Cesar Ramirez, a 46-year-old from Mexico, said he had been hired only one day in the previous week.

He said he makes $15 an hour when he works on plumbing or electrical jobs, but $8 or $10 an hour when hired to do landscaping. Many weeks, he said, he does not earn enough to support his six children.

Ramirez said he had worked as a day laborer since arriving from Oaxaca, Mexico, four years ago. "I keep doing it because I can't find a permanent job."

He said a contractor had recently failed to pay more than $500 due him after he had spent five days doing electrical and plumbing work. Ramirez asked a workers' rights group to help him get paid, but he was unsuccessful because he did not have the contractor's name, telephone number or address.

Nearly three-fourths of the day laborers surveyed said they gathered at day-labor sites five or more days a week, with the average laborer finding work three to three and a half days a week. In good months, day laborers earn $1,400, the report found, and in bad months, $500.

The study said that the number of day laborers had soared because of the surge of immigrants, the boom in home building and renovation, the construction industry's growing use of temporary workers, and the volatility of the job market.

The study found that 73 percent said they were placed in hazardous working conditions, like digging ditches, working with chemicals, or on roofs or scaffolding. The report said that employers often put day laborers into dangerous jobs that regular workers were reluctant to do.

One-fifth said that in the past year they had suffered injuries requiring medical attention, and 60 percent of that group said their injuries caused them to miss more than a week of work.

"Day laborers continue to endure unsafe working conditions, mainly because they fear that if they speak up, complain, or otherwise challenge these conditions, they will either be fired or not paid for their work," the report said.

The study found that 73 percent said they were placed in hazardous working conditions, like digging ditches, working with chemicals, or on roofs or scaffolding.

And, WHO MAY I ASK, is FORCING them to TAKE these jobs???? Maybe they should have stayed in Mexico so they wouldn't have to take these hazardous jobs???? What would it take to SATISFY THEM?? MAYBE they think they can come here and get jobs as doctors, lawyers, INDIAN CHIEFS???

I was going to post this article if no one else had. It is full of things that made me furious.

Why isn't ICE raiding these sites with facts like these"



"The survey found that three-fourths of day laborers were illegal immigrants"

http://www.wral.com/apnationalnews/6343457/detail.html

Another article:

LOS ANGELES -- The immigrant day laborers who wait for work on street corners across the United States have families and attend church regularly, and the people who hire them are more likely to be individual homeowners than construction contractors.

The first nationwide study of day laborers also found that one in five has been injured on the job and nearly half have been cheated out of pay.

The study, the most detailed snapshot to date of the mostly Hispanic and often undocumented immigrants who've become a focal point in the immigration debate, was based on interviews of 2,660 workers at 264 hiring sites in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

The authors said they were surprised by the level of community involvement among men often thought of as transients.

"The day labor corner is not as disconnected from society as people think. It's seen as a shadow economy, but that's really not the case," said professor Nik Theodore of the University of Illinois at Chicago, one of three study authors. The others were from the University of California, Los Angeles, and New York's New School University.

Standing outside a Home Depot store in suburban Burbank on Sunday, 33-year-old Raul Sanchez said that when he's not working, or waiting for work, he's involved in a church and tried to start a soccer league for fellow day laborers. The native of Mexico has been in the United States seven years and lives with his wife and two children, ages 13 and 14.

Sometimes he worries about small work sites with little safety equipment.

"We know nobody is going to help us out if we get hurt," Sanchez said. "There are risks, but what are we going to do _ not work?"

As often as not, a day laborer's employer will be an individual rather than a labor contractor.

Forty-nine percent of respondents said they were regularly hired by homeowners for everything from carpentry to gardening, with 43 percent getting jobs from construction contractors. Two-thirds said they are hired repeatedly by the same employer.

Based on their interviews and counts at each hiring site, the researchers estimate there are about 117,600 day laborers nationwide, but say that number is probably low. They said it would be impossible to count the number of hiring sites nationwide, since some spring up spontaneously.

Among the other findings based on the interviews conducted in July and August 2004:

_Three-fourths were illegal immigrants and most were Hispanic: 59 percent were from Mexico and 28 percent from other Central American countries.

_Just over half said they attended church regularly, 22 percent reported being involved in sports clubs and 26 percent said they participated in community centers.

_Nearly two-thirds had children, 36 percent were married and seven percent lived with a partner.

_More than 80 percent rely on day labor as their sole source of income, earning close to the 2005 federal poverty guideline of $12,830 for a family of two.

_Of the 20 percent who reported on-the-job injuries, more than half said they received no medical care because they couldn't afford it or their employer refused to cover them.

Cesar Martinez, 45, another of the people waiting for work at the Home Depot in Burbank, is a Guatemala native who has been in the United States for 15 years without legal documentation. He said he sends $300 to $500 home every month to support his six children, ages 2 to 14, but that sometimes an employer rips him off.

"I couldn't complain because I'm not here legally, but I was so angry because I need every cent," he said. "I'm always thinking, 'Are they going to pay me, am I going to get to work 8 hours on this job, will I get hurt doing it?'"

_______________________________________________

Yeah, yeah....they go to church, have families and need to earn money but three fourths of them are illegal. You know ICE should open one of these up as a sting operation.

I just don't GET IT. If they feel cheated or feel like they are going to be injured on the job, WHY DO THEY KEEP COMING BY THE THOUSANDS???

OK folks, let's figure this one out.

In version #1, Cesar Ramirez is a 46 year-old man from Mexico and has been in the US for 4 years. He said a contractor had recently failed to pay more than $500. He has 6 children which many weeks he doesn't earn enough to support.

In version #2, Cesar Martinez is a 45 year-old man from from Guatemala and has been in the US for 15 years. Sometimes an employer rips him off. He has 6 children, ages 2-14, and sends as much as $500 home each month. (Been away from home for 15 years & has kids 2-14? )

Is this the same person or do middle-aged illegal aliens named Cesar usually have 6 children?

Oh yeah, one other thing, if 59% are from Mexico, 28% from Central America and 7% born in the US, are the other 6% ghosts?

and I got cheated when:

...an illegal drunk driver arrested 11 times and deported 5 times killed my friend in a hit and run

...a bunch of illegal MS-13 gangsters raped my neighbor's daughter.

...I went to the hospital and found it put out of business because illegals get free medical care.

... I apply for college tuition and found it's been allocated for an illegal alien.

...etc, etc.

The second story seems to try and give you the "warm and fuzzy" version of illegal activity.

"_Just over half said they attended church regularly, 22 percent reported being involved in sports clubs and 26 percent said they participated in community centers."

We have suggested infiltrating the mosques of the Muslims why not seek out the illegals in church as well.

Now, THAT is an idea, mapwife! Can't you just HEAR THE OUTCRY if ICE was positioned outside the doors of the CHURCH????? We would be SUNK for sure then!