Thread: Organizer Hopes That For Day Laborers, a New Day Is Coming

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB ... in_tff_top

Organizer Hopes That
For Day Laborers, a New Day
Is Coming Very Soon

By MIRIAM JORDAN
July 14, 2006; Page A9

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. -- The driver of a black Honda thought he would quickly enlist some guys to load furniture and boxes onto a truck -- until he heard the men wanted $15 an hour. "What? You don't even have papers," the driver told a clutch of Latino day laborers clustered around his car earlier this week. But they stood firm.

"We do hard jobs other people won't do," Luis Cap, a Guatemalan, told the man behind the wheel. "If you want to save money, that's OK. You will have to find other workers." The Honda drove off, the odd jobs unfilled.

Three months ago, about 120 immigrants who solicit work along a sun-drenched road in this town outside Los Angeles decided among themselves to only accept work for a minimum hourly wage of $15 -- about $2.50 higher than the previous, informal rate. "What they have here is the essence of a union," says Pablo Alvarado, national coordinator of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, who supervised the workers' roadside vote.

Day laborers, who are often regarded as the face of illegal immigration and the so-called informal economy, are organizing themselves. Steering this initiative is Mr. Alvarado, a former undocumented immigrant determined to prepare this diffuse underground work force for a role in the political debate over immigration. "Organizing immigrants and other low-wage workers can improve conditions for all workers," says Mr. Alvarado, 38 years old, who co-founded the Network in 2002.

About 117,600 day laborers in the U.S., most of them from Mexico and Central America, seek work on any given day, according to a study released this January by researchers from UCLA, the University of Illinois and New School University in New York. The national study also found that three-quarters of day laborers are illegal immigrants.

Congregating at hundreds of sites across the country, day laborers sometimes form the backbone of local residential construction, and also work in landscaping, food service and at odd jobs. But they have recently become the target of anti-illegal immigrant groups, like the volunteer border patrol Minutemen, and town ordinances seeking to eject them.

Partly to fight back, Mr. Alvarado and his team of organizers at 30 affiliated groups -- which include day-laborer centers, immigrant-advocacy organizations and church-based groups -- are striving to integrate the immigrant workers into the broader labor movement.

Last month, the Laborers' International Union of North America, which represents construction workers, announced it would collaborate with Mr. Alvarado's network to create hiring sites, lobby for immigration reform and protect day laborers' rights. To be sure, day laborers could bolster the 700,000-member union's presence in residential building. "Employers abuse immigrant workers because of their status and bring down wages for everyone," says Yanira Merino, the union's immigration coordinator. "They can less easily manipulate organized workers."

The powerful AFL-CIO is also courting day laborers. A few weeks ago, a delegation of senior federation officials flew to Los Angeles to meet with Mr. Alvarado and his team of organizers. They made the one-hour road trip from downtown to Agoura Hills for a close look at the impact of the network's organizing efforts.

"Through Pablo, we have a whole new cadre of worker advocates," says Ana Avendaño, associate general counsel of the AFL-CIO.

Sources familiar with discussions between the federation and Mr. Alvarado's network say they are on the verge of a historic agreement to put day-laborer representatives in several cities at the table alongside local AFL-CIO bosses as they shape strategies on a variety of worker-related issues. The day-laborer representatives would be there to participate in votes at the local level; some of the representatives would most likely be undocumented workers.

Of course, not everyone endorses the idea of allowing undocumented day laborers to hook up with the mainstream labor movement. "They're so desperate for new members that they're selling out to the aliens," says John Keeley, a spokesman for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, a think tank that favors more restrictive immigration policies.Adds Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform: "[Organized labor] is desperately trying to reclaim some relevance."

For their part, some day laborers are wary of linking up with unions because of negative perceptions about organized labor from their home countries.

Mr. Alvarado, a native of El Salvador, worked in factories, construction and gardening after sneaking across the border from Mexico into the U.S. 16 years ago. He became a legal permanent resident of the U.S. after marrying a U.S. citizen in 1997. He and his wife have two children.

He honed his skills as an organizer in the 1990s, first as a volunteer filing wage claims for day laborers and then as a staffer of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, an advocacy group.

In towns trying to ban day laborers from soliciting jobs in the streets, Mr. Alvarado has helped the workers file lawsuits based on their First Amendment right to freedom of expression.

The first such lawsuit -- filed in 1998 against a Los Angeles county ordinance -- enabled the Agoura Hills laborers to remain at their location. Until the day laborers won that case in 2000, they were pursued by law-enforcement officers who used helicopters and patrol cars to hound them, and then arrested, jailed and fined them.

Aware of the negative image day laborers have in many areas, Mr. Alvarado encourages them to show good citizenry. In Agoura Hills, the workers -- who gather in several groups along a hilly road -- have bought trash cans and set rules of conduct. In one spot, they have chained the can to a big Oak tree that provides them with shade. The last day laborer to leave the site each afternoon takes the garbage. Card-playing, drinking and drugs are prohibited. "If you don't abide by the rules, you leave this spot," says Jorge Santos, one of the laborers. The rules, and the $15-an-hour minimum wage, are enforced by peer pressure.

Thanks to organizing efforts, thousands of day laborers participated in immigration marches that took place earlier this year. "Not a single worker showed up here on May 1," boasts Mr. Cap, the Guatemalan immigrant in Agoura Hills.

Mr. Alvarado and his staff have also been holding teach-ins to ensure that the day laborers stay abreast of the bills and the debate over the issue of immigration. On a recent Saturday in Los Angeles, about 70 men gave up a day's work for a U.S. civics lesson. In Spanish, Mr. Alvarado engaged the group of men with paint-splattered trousers and sawdust under their nails in a discussion about the branches of government, the two main political parties and immigration legislation. A similar four-hour lesson took place in several U.S. cities.

"They need to understand their place and role in this debate," said Mr. Alvarado.

Write to Miriam Jordan at miriam.jordan@wsj.com

Three months ago, about 120 immigrants who solicit work along a sun-drenched road in this town outside Los Angeles decided among themselves to only accept work for a minimum hourly wage of $15 -- about $2.50 higher than the previous, informal rate.

Geeze. What's the LEGAL minimum wage in CA anyway?

The last day laborer to leave the site each afternoon takes the garbage. Card-playing, drinking and drugs are prohibited. "If you don't abide by the rules, you leave this spot,"

I guess they don't consider breaking immigration laws, emlployment laws, Workers Comp., income tax, etc. to be against THE RULES? Are there any other of our laws they don't consider to be against their rules? Things like DUI driving, having no insurance, DL's, car registration, etc.? Maybe we can all get together and form our own informal unions and decide which laws we can ignore. After all we all want to have a better life for our families, maybe we can ignore paying taxes, not pay for insurance, or have DL's.

Again, California. You other states please keep the momentum going because we're sinking out here.

Originally Posted by jean

Again, California. You other states please keep the momentum going because we're sinking out here.

Jean, we now have illegals migrating to NC now from CA because of depressed wages for illegals there.

Supply and demand. Gotta love it.

The minimum wage varies in California. It's $6.75 in most of the state and $8.50 in San Francisco. If I remember correctly I believe Santa Monica passed a ordinance raising it over $10 an hour.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm#California

It was $5.15 here but will increase to $6.15 pretty soon.

I feel sorry for you in California and the other SW States where it has to be the worst in the country, but, as had_enuf said they are in North Carolina and every other State.

My State of Ohio is not immune, we are inundated with illegal immigrants, taco wagons, foreign language advertising and stores just for them. If I go to a 24 hr bank machine, I have to choose English as my language to use it, right here in the United States of America.
And the wost part is Ohio is doing NOTHING about it.
Our 2 Senators (R) both are graded F for their voting on immigration issues. It is shameful.

They are running several articles on this topic through different news outlets. Here's the LA Times version. The New York Times ran a similar article also.

http://www.latimes.com/business/careers ... ss-careers

Cost of Daily Hiring Jumps
Day laborers in Agoura Hills demand at least $15 an hour. 'We deserve it,' one immigrant says.
By Anna Gorman
Times Staff Writer

July 15, 2006

The immigrants soliciting work along a dusty roadway in Agoura Hills are taking a chance — one that could significantly boost their pay or cost them jobs.

They are refusing to work for less than $15 an hour, more than double the California minimum wage of $6.75.

"We deserve it," said Daniel Lopez, 31, who works primarily in construction and landscaping and regularly sends money home to his wife and three children in Mexico. "They are tough jobs."

Several other day laborer sites have set minimum wages of $8 or $10, but the rate in Agoura Hills is believed to be the highest in the nation.

Occasionally, potential employers balk at the idea of paying workers — frequently illegal immigrants who don't speak English — so much money. But many employers, laborers say, agree to the fee.

"Even though we are a little expensive, they still come looking for us," said Santos Ixcoy, 25, a Guatemala native and corner regular since sneaking across the border about three years ago. "They need us, just like we need them."

Pablo Alvarado, head of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said the minimum wage shows that day laborers are demanding more respect, and more compensation, for their work. At the same time, they also are taking more responsibility for their sites, keeping them clean and orderly. And they are working with businesses and residents to foster better relations.

Alvarado thinks other day laborer centers will follow the lead set by Agoura Hills and raise minimum wages, but maybe not as high as $15. The Agoura Hills site is unique, he said, because the workers are highly skilled and it is about five miles from any other day laborer corner.

The workers at the site have a long history of struggling for their rights. In 1991, the city passed an ordinance banning day laborers from soliciting work along roadways. The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the ordinance in state court but lost.

The Sheriff's Department began arresting the workers en masse, prompting a sharp drop in the number of laborers at the site. About six years ago, the city stopped enforcing the ordinance after a similar one in Los Angeles County was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court, Alvarado said. Workers began coming back to the site, at the corner of Agoura and Kanan roads.

The workers "know what it is to fight," he said. "They have taken ownership. They are going to do whatever it takes to make sure they get good pay."

About three months ago, the Agoura Hills laborers held a town hall meeting at the site and voted 85 to 15 to increase their minimum wage from $12.50 to $15. After the vote, leaders distributed fliers to the workers, urging them to stick to the new wage and warning those who accepted less that they would be monitored. They also handed out fliers to employers, explaining that the increasing cost of living made it "very difficult for a working family to live with dignity."

Since then, some workers say, the number of employers has dropped as word of the new rate spread. For several hours Friday, about 20 workers waited for jobs but no one stopped to hire them.

Nevertheless, Alfredo Marroquin, 45, said he gets work at least a few days a week. When he does, the new wages make it easier for him to support himself here and send money back to Guatemala. He takes a bus nearly every day from Los Angeles to the Agoura Hills site.

"Everything here is expensive," he said. "There are rich people and poor people. For the rich people, $15 isn't a lot. For the poor people, it is."

But not everybody supports the higher rate. Workers said friction has developed between those who will work only for $15 and those who will accept less.

Guatemalan immigrant Martin Gomez, 37, said he thought the rate should depend on the type of job; breaking concrete with a jackhammer should pay more than picking weeds. Gomez added that not all workers are skilled and therefore shouldn't demand such high payment.

Wilmer Lopez, 19, sneaked across the border in April and still owes $3,000 in coyote fees. Lopez said he is willing to take jobs for as little as $10 an hour so he can finish repaying his debt by the end of the year.

"I want to work," said Lopez, also from Guatemala. "If I let the [employers] go, I can't work."

"They need to understand their place and role in this debate," said Mr. Alvarado.

This is all beyond my thinking. They are in this country illegally, why do they need to understand their place and role in this debate? All they need to understand is that they are all in this country illegally and will be sent back to where they came from, PERIOD!