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New law protects day laborers
State wants workers to be treated fairly

By Erika Slife
Tribune staff reporter

August 10, 2005

Like most people, Arturo Nieto is looking for an honest day's work--even if it's a 12-hour backbreaking day in construction.

But as a day laborer, he considers himself lucky if he receives a proper wage out of it.

"Personally, I went through an experience when someone didn't pay me," said Nieto, 39, speaking in Spanish. "But I reported it to the police, and they helped me, and I recuperated my money. This went very well."

Advocates for day laborers said Tuesday that they were optimistic for more happy endings like Nieto's now that Gov. Rod Blagojevich has signed a bill giving temporary workers more rights to fair wages and workplace conditions.

But they acknowledged that empowering temporary workers, a traditionally silent and fearful bunch, is an uphill battle.

The law will allow the state to punish more severely those temporary-staffing agencies that shortchange workers' paychecks; illegally charge workers for business expenses, such as safety equipment and transportation; and provide unsafe working conditions.

There are about 300,000 day and temporary laborers in Illinois, according to the Illinois Department of Labor, which will enforce the new law. Immigrants and some members of minority groups primarily make up the day labor population, said Anjali Nayyar-Julka, a spokeswoman for the department.

Immigrants and some members of minority groups are more likely to put up with harsher working conditions, because such work gives them jobs they can't find elsewhere, said Tim Bell, executive director of the Chicago Workers Collaborative.

"The day labor agencies provide a shield of protection for companies who don't want to hire directly certain immigrant workers or workers with convictions and prison records and things like that," Bell said.

But whether the new law will make workers more aware of those rights remains to be seen.

Randy Smith, 51, who has worked as a day laborer for more than 30 years, said he has seen and experienced his share of mistreatment by temporary staffing agencies, including non-payment.

"I'm not going to say the law is going to work unless the workers decide to stand up and really let the owners and the client companies know there is a law in place," Smith said.

Advocates also are working on getting laws passed to protect laborers like Nieto, who is originally from Mexico and who has tried finding construction work on street corners. These days, Nieto and others in a similar situation have been seeking jobs at the Albany Park Workers Center, 4174 N. Elston Ave., which opened in late 2004.

He said he feels more secure trying to find work at the center than on the street.

"A lot of people are afraid to make a report to the police. In reality, they don't know the politics, how each police officer is going to act," Nieto said.

But organizers of the new day laborers' center are off to a slow start at attracting workers to use their facility instead of soliciting work at street corners, which is the more traditional approach.

About 150 day laborers are members at the center, but only about 20 a day go to the center to find jobs. Analia Rodriguez, a coordinator, said that during July, the center had a 35 percent success rate at finding work for people.

"It's great for this center, which is new," Rodriguez said. "We're very new. And if we compare ourselves with other centers of this kind in country, we're very, very successful."

Jessica Aranda, executive director of Latino Union of Chicago, said the center's organizers are trying to inform day laborers waiting for work on street corners about the day labor center. She said, more importantly, they're trying to promote the center to the employers who hire day laborers.

"Because day labor is a function of supply and demand, the actual employers will determine where the workers congregate," Aranda said.

The center's organizers hope it will become a place where laborers can find work in a safe environment.

For example, in Cicero police have arrested about 30 day laborers in recent months for trespassing while soliciting work at a Home Depot. Worker advocates have appealed to city officials to intervene on their behalf.

"They have such a tradition of going there. That's how many of these folks feed their families," Aranda said. "The arrests have not created a response that Home Depot was looking for."

Yancey Casey, a spokesman for Home Depot, said the company has a non-solicitation policy, and it is up to individual stores to enforce the rule.

"This extends to anyone looking to use our parking lots for fundraising sites or looking to distribute information about their organizations. And this also applies to day laborers," Casey said, adding that stores need to take measures to protect their customers.

Dan Proft, a spokesman for Cicero, said town officials are acting as an intermediary between the workers and Home Depot to find a solution.