Thread: Employers stay away as Vista hiring law takes effect

http://www.10news.com/news/9595758/detail.html

Vista Day Laborer Law Goes Into Effect

POSTED: 6:49 pm PDT July 28, 2006
UPDATED: 7:32 pm PDT July 28, 2006

VISTA, Calif. -- Employers will be required to register with the city before hiring laborers off the streets of Vista under an ordinance that goes into effect Friday.

“We usually have 70 to 80 out here every day, about 20 get hired, but with Minutemen and protests, today, none of them got hired,” said sales clerk Diana Ortiz told 10News.

The Vista City Council approved the ordinance, which drew activists from both sides of the debate over illegal immigration, last month.

“It provides hours they work, the type of work they’ll be doing. We’ve had complaints from workers about not getting paid. It protects them as well,” said Assistant to the City Manager Patrick Johnson.

For years, day laborers have stood on the lawn outside the Vons store on South Santa Fe and Escondido avenues, with employers passing by to pick up those they want to hire for the day.

But starting Friday, employing workers in such a way will be against the law in the North County city.

The ordinance requires employers to register with the city before hiring laborers who wait for work on local street corners.

Employers also would be required to post the registration on their vehicles and give laborers a "term sheet" describing the job and its location, rate of pay and employer contact information.

There was concern, briefly, that there might be a confrontation between the Minutemen and whoever showed up looking for laborers, but it was a quiet Friday morning.

No one stopped.

“Some of these potential employers choose to ignore law, and we're here to show our presence,” said Michael Spencer of the Vista Citizens Brigade.

Only four people have registered thus far.

There's no charge to sign up, but there are penalties if you ignore the law from escalating fines to possible jail time.

The plan is to issue warning tickets until Aug. 7th, after 10 days, and then citations would be issued.

The Day Laborer Law is being challenged in federal court.

Two civil rights groups want it declared unconstitutional.

Papers have been filed, but there is no decision yet from a judge.

Of course, it's being challenged in court. What else can you expect?

Hopefully, it will prevail cause it's a step in the right direction.

Does this mean that the laborers will not get picked up at their homes for work?

Meant to ask, does this mean that the illegal aliens will now arrange to get picked up at their homes/apts for work?

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07 ... _28_06.prt

Saturday, July 29, 2006
Last modified Saturday, July 29, 2006 1:25 AM PDT

Employers stay away as Vista hiring law takes effect

By: CRAIG TENBROECK - Staff Writer

VISTA ---- About three dozen Latino day laborers waited for job offers in a central Vista parking lot Friday morning, but with immigration activists and city code compliance officers watching from the wings, employers stayed away.

Friday marked the first day of enforcement for a highly publicized city law requiring people who hire workers off the street to register with the city, display a certificate in their car windows and provide written terms of employment.

Around 6 a.m., code compliance officers began handing out informational fliers to the laborers congregating around a shopping center parking lot near Escondido and South Santa Fe avenues.

Sheriff's deputies kept watch as activists on both sides of the illegal immigration debate wandered about, waiting to see what would happen. A larger contingent is expected at the shopping center today.

For several hours Friday, hiring was stagnant. Pickup trucks with yard tools or paint buckets in the back would occasionally drive through the lot, drawing hopeful looks from the laborers. But the job offers didn't come.

When the crowds started to disperse around 10 a.m., city officials said they had not seen a single day-labor hiring, either by registered employers (there have been four so far) or those who have not registered.

Patrick Johnson, assistant to the city manager, said the city would have at least one officer at the site for the next two weeks, then re-evaluate the need. Code compliance officers will give warnings to first-time offenders during the first 10 days. After that, employers who hire day laborers without registering will be hit with citations, he said.

Anti-illegal immigration activists called Friday's hiring drought a victory for Vista.

"The people (who want immigration laws enforced) are getting what they've been asking for," said San Diego Minutemen leader Jeff Schwilk.

"It's a good start," said Tom Taylor, who nodded toward a group of workers standing in the shade. "But as you can see, there are still plenty of them here."

Erubey Lopez of the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network said that the city would not be able to maintain a constant presence at the shopping center and the laborers weren't going to just fade away.

"This is not sustainable," he said.

Lopez added that city officials have legitimate concerns about workers using the high-profile shopping center as a pickup spot, but members of the community should work together to find a "strategic place" for day-labor hiring.

Andres Villanueva from Oaxaca, Mexico, was among a group of laborers who said they were not aware that the law was taking effect Friday. Villanueva said the ordinance could help workers who have been cheated out of pay, but feared it would keep employers away.

Some workers said the rules wouldn't stop them from seeking work in the parking lot. But others said it has been hard to find jobs there in recent months, with anti-illegal immigration groups stopping by to discourage hiring.

Day laborer Jose Lopez, also from Oaxaca, said six workers left for Arizona just two weeks ago. Others are talking about going to Madera to work, he said.

Juan Jose, a worker who declined to give his last name, said he is taking a wait-and-see approach.

"I'll keep coming. If there are no jobs, then I will start to think where else to go," he said. "But I will be here tomorrow and the next day."

At least one business in the shopping center took advantage of the day's events.

Standing near the Escondido Avenue entrance, Yum Yum Donuts employee Diana Ortiz waved a sign advertising a "Protest Day Special": Buy one dozen doughnuts, get the second free.

City Attorney Darold Pieper has repeatedly said the ordinance was designed to protect the laborers from unscrupulous employers. Critics, however, have questioned the city's motivation and called it a backdoor attempt to discourage the hiring of day laborers.

City Council members have said the shopping center, along one of the Vista's busiest thoroughfares, is not an appropriate hiring site.

The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties and California Rural Legal Assistance Inc. have asked the federal court for a temporary restraining order against the city, as part of a lawsuit alleging that the law is unconstitutional.

By Friday afternoon, no decision had been made on the retraining order request.

-- Staff writer Brenda Duran contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.

Day laborer Jose Lopez, also from Oaxaca, said six workers left for Arizona just two weeks ago. Others are talking about going to Madera to work, he said.

now if every community in the US did that, maybe the illegal aliens would go home so their own countries could deal with them