http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/monte ... 916935.htm

Posted on Mon, Feb. 20, 2006

Bill targets worker centers
The news comes at a time when Seaside is pondering what to do about day laborers
By CLAUDIA MELƒNDEZ SALINAS
Herald Salinas Bureau

Worker centers -- institutions that emerged in the last decade as the main source of support for immigrant workers across the country -- could be the target of federal legislation approved by the House of Representatives last month.

A sweeping bill commonly known as the Sensenbrenner Act, after its author, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., would enact tough measures against organizations or people that help undocumented immigrants, a role that worker centers have taken on in the last decade.

"Volunteers and staff of workers' centers, any charitable organization or individual, would become a criminal and (their) property would be seized," said Amy Sugimori of the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy organization on behalf of workers. "People would be considered felons just for providing support."

Institutions that help immigrants, including churches, could also face millions of dollars in fines, Sugimori said.

The news comes at a time when Seaside is pondering what to do about the day laborers who gather at University Plaza shopping center on Fremont Boulevard, a group of mostly Latino immigrants who stand alongside the parking lot, hoping to be hired by contractors or homeowners.

Their presence, which swells in winter, has drawn the ire of business owners. Some have suggested creating a day labor center, though no group or organization has stepped forward to organize such an effort.

Dave Rodrock, manager of the shopping center, said he thinks a day labor center would help, although he's not planning to advocate formation of one any time soon.

"We have a lot of things we want to take a look at," he said. "We've talked to the city, we're getting everybody at the table to see how to approach (the problem)."

Rodrock said the shopping center's owners and tenants were preparing to do something about the day laborers, although he didn't discuss the specifics.

The workers "contribute to the traffic, but I don't know if it is traffic into the merchants that are there," Rodrock said. "That's the biggest concern."

"A lot of guys doing business in two driveways make that a difficult situation," he said.

A study released last week found that day labor centers have emerged in the last decade as institutions that organize the immigrant workers to "create economic justice" and give them political voice. Published in the book "Workers Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream," the report found that across the nation these centers fill a wide range of immigrant workers' needs.

"They're called workers' centers but these are misnomers," said Janice Fine, a Rutgers University professor who wrote the report. "These are new associations of workers that are picking up on new ranges of issues: employment issues, incorporation of immigrants, health care, et cetera."

There are no day labor centers in Monterey County, though workers hoping to get hired for construction or landscaping gather at Home Depot in Salinas, University Plaza in Seaside and near Kasey's in Carmel Valley.

Some community leaders and laborers believe a day worker center would be a good idea, but worry about the potential effects of the Sensenbrenner bill, officially known as the "Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act."

"Anybody who wants to set up a service specifically directed to immigrant workers, they can get into trouble," said Juan Uranga, executive director of the Center for Community Advocacy, which organizes low income workers around housing issues. "If you're just giving services in general to the immigrant public, how do you know if they're undocumented or not?" Uranga said.

"The incredible thing is that the title of bill equates terrorism with undocumented workers, and there have been undocumented workers forever. But there's not been one single instance that I know of where an undocumented worker engaged in terrorist activity," he said. "I believe the terrorists of Sept. 11 were here legally."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 753-6755 or cmelendez@montereyherald.com.