Thread: Vista Considers Day Laborer Ordinance

http://nctimes.com/articles/2006/06/..._346_10_06.txt

Vista considers day-laborer ordinance

By: CRAIG TENBROECK - Staff Writer

VISTA ---- Would-be employers who hire day laborers from street corners or parking lots in Vista may soon have to register with the city, display a registration certificate in their car window, and present short-term workers with written terms of employment ---- steps that critics and supporters say could put a dent in the city's most popular hiring spots.

Four months after hundreds of demonstrators on both sides of the illegal immigration debate faced off near a corner of Escondido Avenue where dozens of workers gather each morning, the City Council will consider an ordinance that would regulate such hiring within city limits. The council will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.

City Attorney Darold Pieper said the proposed law is meant to benefit day laborers ---- a viewpoint that immigration advocates called ridiculous.


"The goal of the statute is to protect workers and to deter hiring by people who are going to abuse, mistreat and otherwise cause problems with day laborers," said Pieper. If approved, he said, Vista's ordinance would be unique.

Claudia Smith, an Oceanside migrant rights attorney and director of the California Rural Legal Aid Foundation's Border Project, said the proposal was disingenuous.

"It would be touching, all this concern about the day laborers, if that were the real motivation," she said. "In effect, what the ordinance would do is shut down day-labor sites."

She added: "A number of legal organizations are going to take a very close look to see if this passes muster."

Tension at Escondido Avenue


Most mornings, crowds of Latino day laborers gather in front of the Vons shopping center along Escondido and Santa Fe avenues in search of work. The size of the group ranges from fewer than 10 to more than 50, and thins out as the afternoon nears.

Some employees and business owners in the center have told the North County Times that the presence of the day laborers isn't good for business because they inadvertently intimidate customers.

Assistant City Manager Rick Dudley said Thursday that the number of workers there has doubled in the past year.

Mayor Morris Vance said the has to "do something to correct the situation, while realizing that all people have rights."

Though not a new phenomenon in Vista, the men have recently become a source of tension between workers-rights advocates and opponents of illegal immigration.

Some say the laborers are simply trying to work, often to support their families. Opponents contend the majority are in the U.S. illegally, pose a safety hazard, and taint the city's image by congregating at one of Vista's busiest thoroughfares.

City officials have repeatedly said they believe most of the day laborers at the Escondido Avenue location are legal residents or U.S. citizens.

Recently, a small group of activists calling themselves the Vista Citizens Brigade has tried to discourage people from hiring day laborers in the city by visiting pick-up spots and warning drivers in the cars that stop about the consequences of hiring illegal immigrants.

Group member Mike Spencer said Friday that he had reviewed the ordinance and plans to attend Tuesday's meeting.

"It's a complex document with lots and lots of implications and, at this point, I don't have any personal or representative opinion on it."

He added: "I have admiration for whoever put it together and I'm very thankful that English is still the language that they're writing these things in."

A protection measure


Pieper said the ordinance would include several provisions to protect day laborers from workplace abuse. Employers would be required to provide contact information, and at the time of hiring, provide the worker with a sheet describing the terms of employment.

These term sheets are not contracts, Pieper said, but they would provide some proof of an employment agreement in the event a dispute arises.

"It's intended to avoid the 'he said, he said' problem," Pieper said.

A nationwide study released in January showed that day laborers frequently suffer accidents on the job or are short-changed on pay.

The study's authors, social scientists from UCLA, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and New York's New School University, surveyed 2,660 day laborers at 264 sites in 20 states and the District of Columbia during July and August 2004.

The study showed that nearly 50 percent of day laborers interviewed had reported being cheated out of wages for work completed in the previous two months; 20 percent reported being injured on the job; and 44 percent said they had been denied food, water, or breaks by their employers.

Migrant day laborers are primarily employed by homeowners and construction contractors for painting, landscaping, gardening and other forms of manual labor, the study showed.

Councilman Steve Gronke said he think the day laborers will react favorably to the ordinance.

"It tells them the city is concerned about their safety," he said.

"I think a lot of people will put their names on the record," Gronke said when asked if employers would go through the trouble of registering. "We'll still see a lot of hiring going on, it'll just be better regulated."

Registration certificates would be public records, a city report states.

Councilman Bob Campbell supports the measure, but said "it would be disingenuous to say this is strictly to protect the workers."

The registration requirements would probably cut down on some day labor hiring or push workers elsewhere, he said.

Enforcement


The ordinance would be enforced by sheriff's deputies and code enforcement officers, Pieper said. Violations would be misdemeanors punishable by no more than six months imprisonment or $1,000 fine.

Early in the process, the city would conduct "active" enforcement of the registration requirements, but could eventually scale back to complaint-based enforcement, he said.

"We'll just have to see how the process works," Pieper said. "I think it's too early to say how long active enforcement will be needed or how long it will continue."

Upon registering, employers would receive information about state and federal laws, including the legalized status requirements. However, the city would not enforce those laws, Pieper said.

Some residents have called on the city to crack down on those day laborers who are in the United States illegally.

But unless an arrest is made the city has no authority to enforce immigration law, officials say. Current policies enable the San Diego County Sheriff's Department to advise Immigrations and Customs Enforcement of persons who are arrested and suspected of being in the United States illegally, a city report states.

"We don't support illegal immigration, but it's not our issue," Dudley said.

A first step


Vance said the ordinance would be a calming measure, a way to ensure that tensions over the Escondido Avenue location don't escalate.

"What we're seeking is control," he said.

But it would also be just the first step.

As a long-term solution, he said, the city is exploring moving the day laborers to another location, to "an area that doesn't impact business."

"While we understand what the day laborers are trying to do ---- they're trying to make money to live and feed their families ---- we don't necessarily believe that the Vons shopping center is the best location for them," Dudley said.

No proposals for a location swap are on Tuesday's agenda, but if one day "we can work it out so those workers are at another location, I think we will all be winners," Vance said.

Contact staff writer Craig TenBroeck at (760) 631-6621 or ctenbroeck@nctimes.com.

But unless an arrest is made the city has no authority to enforce immigration law, officials say. Current policies enable the San Diego County Sheriff's Department to advise Immigrations and Customs Enforcement of persons who are arrested and suspected of being in the United States illegally, a city report states.

This is BS it's LA's Code 40. Disinformation. The city can, but won't do anything to enfoce the law.