Local activists plan workshop on Vista day-labor law

By: CRAIG TENBROECK - Staff Writer
NORTH COUNTY TIMES
DECEMBER 27, 2006

VISTA -- A local activist group that opposed the adoption of Vista's controversial day-labor hiring ordinance is planning a public workshop to teach employers how to comply with the city law, which has yielded dozens of citations since it took effect in late July.

"We just want to keep people from getting fined by the city," said Tina Jillings, a former City Council candidate and a cofounder of the Coalition for Justice, Peace and Dignity.

The hiring law, which is unique to Vista, requires people who hire day laborers off the street to first register with the city, display certificates in their car windows and present workers with written terms of employment.


The fine for employers who hire workers without first obtaining a certificate is $100 for the first violation, $200 for the second and $500 for the third, though citations can be appealed, city officials have said.

"We're getting a lot of complaints from residents in the community who are being cited for violating the ordinance," said Jillings, a day labor advocate. "We have a lot of new people who are not familiar with (it)."

Since the law took effect, the city has issued 73 certificates to employers. Code compliance officers, who have focused their enforcement efforts on a once-popular hiring spot near a central Vista shopping center, have cited 42 people for making street-side hires without a certificate, according to Deputy City Manager Patrick Johnson.

No one has been cited more than once, Johnson said.

The coalition, formed after sheriff's deputies shot and killed three Latino men in separate incidents in the summer of 2005, will host the informational session from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan. 6 in the community room at the Vista Public Library, 700 Eucalyptus Ave.

Jillings said her group will answer questions about the law, provide sample "term sheets" and help people fill out registration forms. The workshop won't be a one-stop shop; registrants will still have to stop by City Hall to submit the forms and pick up a certificate.

Jillings said she has invited city officials to participate, but it was unclear Tuesday whether any would attend.

"It would really behoove the city to have someone there," Jillings said.

When the council approved the ordinance this summer, opponents questioned the city's oft-stated motivation of protecting the workers and said the ordinance would instead dry up the day-labor market. The constitutionality of the ordinance is being challenged in federal court by California Rural Legal Assistance Inc. and the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties.

Anti-illegal immigration activists have rallied in support of the law, claiming that makeshift pickup sites are hotbeds for immigrants in the country illegally.

Workers still gather in small clusters at the Vista site, near Escondido and South Santa Fe avenues, but the numbers are down sharply from last year, when dozens of men would linger in the parking lot, crowding around the employers who would drive up in pickup trucks and large cars.

Though Jillings was one of the first to register with the city as an employer, she's no fan of the ordinance. When she ran unsuccessfully for City Council this fall, she said the law should be taken off the books. She has also pushed the city to establish a day-labor hiring site to give the workers, who are predominantly Latino men, a safe place to seek work.

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

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/12 ... _26_06.txt

Comments On This Story

HARRY wrote on December 26, 2006 10:11 PM:"IS TINA ON SOME MEDICATION,OR JUST LIKE'S CREATEING TROUBLE FOR AMERICANS."