Thread: Survey provides closer look at city's day laborers

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]Survey provides closer look at city's day laborers

By Vesna Jaksic
Staff Writer

March 20, 2006

STAMFORD -- Day laborers are most often hired by homeowners, earn an average of $287 a week and typically support several relatives.

Most come from Guatemala, and less than 2 percent are Mexican. Their average age is 32. Fifteen percent have relatives in Stamford. All but 3 percent work to support their relatives, sending an average of $338 a month to their home countries.

These and other findings emerged from the latest survey of Stamford's day laborers. The data also tracked the laborers' movements, which some officials hope will help them pass an ordinance that would fine employers for picking up workers outside the city's designated area.

Sixty laborers were asked 50 questions from October to December. The survey was conducted by Juan Paniagua, a day-laborer outreach worker, and released last week.

Sixty-five percent of the workers were surveyed in the pickup zone on South State Street, and 35 percent were surveyed outside the zone on East Main Street.

Those surveyed outside the pickup zone said employers told them to meet them there, there were fewer people there or they could better negotiate contracts there, according to the survey.

Such negotiations can be seen in the parking lot of the Dunkin' Donuts on East Main Street, as potential employers get out of their vehicles to talk to laborers before hiring them. In the designated zone on South State Street, however, employers rarely get out of their vehicles and stop briefly to pick up workers.

Parts of East Main Street, such as the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot, are convenient for prearranged meetings, Paniagua said.

"I think the most important thing is why the people are still waiting on East Main Street," he said. Laborers "stay there because some of those guys are appointed by their bosses and that attracts more people."

Some laborers said they prefer the nondesignated area because it allows them to get coffee and breakfast and to warm up on cold days. The designated zone has portable toilets under the Interstate 95 bridge, but no shops.

"The greatest number in the pickup zone said they were there because they wanted to follow the law," said city Rep. Philip Berns, D-16, who works with the East Side Partnership and Paniagua on issues related to day laborers. "But as the weather got colder and they found the wind whipping through the cold, shaded, damp area under the bridge, some of them broke down and started to migrate toward the coffee shop."

The East Side Partnership, a group of businesses and neighbors, has been pushing for an ordinance that would fine vehicle owners $90 for picking up laborers outside the designated zone. A number of city officials have raised concerns about enforcing such an ordinance.

James Grunberger, chairman of the East Side Partnership, said he hopes the survey will build a stronger case for the ordinance.

"The main thing we discovered is that people who are standing on the street and not in the designated area have prearranged meetings with their employers," he said. "So if employers know there is a consequence -- there is a fine -- then the employer would meet them in their own yard or designated area. The problem is not with the laborers. They are just seeking work."

Forty-nine percent of the laborers were hired by homeowners and renters, and 43 percent were hired by contractors, according to the report.

Officials have been assessing whether other communities do, said city Rep. Thomas Hunter, D-12, who proposed the ordinance last year.

"They are looking at what legislation and ordinances already exist and if there is something we can already use that's in existence or if there is something we can use as a model," he said.

The survey also looked at demographics of the laborers.

Of the 60 workers surveyed, 39 were from Guatemala, 10 were from Honduras, five were from Peru, three were from Ecuador, two were from El Salvador and one was from Mexico. One lived outside of Stamford and four out of five had come to Stamford directly from their countries.

On average, each laborer supports 3.16 people, the survey found. They work an average of 2.7 days a week, earned an average of $287 a week during the survey period and an average of $372 a week for the three months before the survey was taken.

The survey showed that the laborers spend about $355 a month in rent and $312 a month on food. Paniagua said that means laborers spend $3 of every $4 they earn in Stamford.

Eva Maldonado, president of the Stamford Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said that means day laborers spend $3 million in Stamford each year.

"There is such a negative connotation within our community that day laborers are here to take from us and from the community and send (money) back home," she said. "But they are actually spending money here and contributing to the economics of the city by buying groceries or renting."

Since most day laborers are in the country illegally, the issue has been at the forefront of the nation's immigration debate. The first national study on day laborers estimated that each day, 117,600 people -- mostly undocumented Hispanic immigrants -- go to U.S. streets, community centers and businesses in search of work.

The Stamford survey found laborers often rotate among jobs so usually no more than 130 are looking for work on a given day. But Paniagua estimates Stamford's total day laborer population is about 250 people.

What are so many trying to come up with reasons illegals are good for us?

I am not a political correct person, I want them gone....and it has nothing to do with race...and has everything to do with so many of our good jobs disappearing, going to foreign countries...and what we have left our government wants to give to illegals and legals!

Plus, I could use MY tax dollars rather than allowing someone that is not supposed to be here, take them!