Thread: CA:Day labor center project stalled

Property owners want answers from Stockton officials

Jennie Rodriguez
By Jennie Rodriguez
Record Staff Writer
April 07, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - Two years after Stockton embarked on creating a center to help day laborers, the project is stalled in opposition and inactivity.

Now, city officials aren't sure when a day labor center might be built, and the owners of Stockton's Gateway Plaza, where many of the men congregate, are becoming increasingly discontent.

Immigration activist Luis Magaña of Proyecto Voz (Project Voice) is also disgruntled by a feeling of complacency about the project emanating from City Hall.

An attempt to relocate the day laborers to a pickup point in front of St. Mary's Interfaith Dining Room failed last year. The laborers returned to the Gateway Plaza because employers were unaware of the new site.

Laborers also feared being robbed by transients who lingered around the dining hall.

City officials began developing plans for a center with the help of Magaña and a committee he formed called La Comite de Jornaleros (The Committee of Day Laborers).

A possible site for the center was targeted at El Dorado and Clay streets, but several area businesses objected to the relocation site, claiming that workers would attract crime.

"There was some opposition because they didn't have all the facts. ... People are fearful of change," said Dennis Smallie, an assistant to Mayor Ed Chavez. "We can't find a property owner willing to have something like this on his site."

That's a common problem, said Pablo Alvarado, a spokesman for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network in Los Angeles.

There's about 65 day labor centers in the country, Alvarado said.

"All of those centers have opened under difficult circumstances," he said. But day labor centers actually create "a win-win situation," he said, because historically they've proved to save on police enforcement and they promote worker safety.

The center prototype commissioned by the city is designed with restrooms, running water, a worker check-in system, security measures and someone on site to offer assistance and resources on labor issues and community services.

Smallie said workers would be required to wear identification badges, which would make it easier for security to spot illegitimate workers, transients and criminals.

The city will pay an estimated $100,000 on initial building costs, but it will designate a community organization to operate the center.

"We would like to get this moving forward," Smallie said.

Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez at (209) 943-8564 or jrodriguez@recordnet.com.
http://tinyurl.com/4gbaym

"Laborers also feared being robbed by transients who lingered around the dining hall. "

I have yet to see a day labor guy that did not carry a "work knife"

Hmmm "Illegitimate workers" as opposed to screening out illegal alien workers.


Day labor centers can be coopted by our side by having legal day laborers monitor and report any employers not screening for a proof of legal right to work. A subsequent new announcement then causes the center to be left to serve only legitimate employers and legal workers.

Originally Posted by Richard

Hmmm "Illegitimate workers" as opposed to screening out illegal alien workers.


Day labor centers can be coopted by our side by having legal day laborers monitor and report any employers not screening for a proof of legal right to work. A subsequent new announcement then causes the center to be left to serve only legitimate employers and legal workers.

May also refer to "whos your Papa?" :P

Use the unemployment office, unless of course you are illegal and can't, hmmm think this is the problem!



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