Thread: Houston day laborers vote to form workers rights network

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5677684.html

April 5, 2008, 6:00PM
Houston day laborers vote to form workers rights network
They National Day Laborer Organizing Network has groups in more than 20 cities

By MONICA RHOR



Nearly 200 men, many wearing creased baseball caps, worn work boots and paint-spattered and grass-stained jeans, raised their hands in unison.

Do we have 100 percent? asked Marco Amador.

Si, ciento por ciento! the men roared back as one. Yes, 100 percent!

With that informal vote in a community center gym, the Houston Day Laborer Network was born Saturday, joining similar groups in more than 20 cities around the country.

It was, the men were told, a historic moment for Houston and the first step toward fighting for better working conditions and fair pay for the laborers who stake out about 29 corners in the city each morning, hoping to find work.

"You are the advocates of a new way to ask for your rights and to demand pay, a fair pay," said Amador, outreach coordinator with the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which has helped set up many of the local networks. "Out of this, we are getting documentation of the reality of day laborers in Houston."

That reality, according to those who gathered Saturday, includes employers who often cheat laborers — negotiating one price, then paying far less or nothing at all. It is being afraid of police, who sweep workers off corners; of nearby business owners, who chafe at their presence; and of criminals and bullies, who prey on the clusters of men.

The day-laborer reality also means harsh competition for few jobs, with younger, more agile workers beating out older men or those in poor physical condition. And often, many men said, it means employers who pick up crews at their regular corner location but refuse to return them there after the end of the day, leaving the workers stranded in strange neighborhoods.

"Those are just some of the problems we have. Many, many others exist too," said Limbor Israel Dican, 48. "Violations of our rights. Demands that we do more work than agreed to. Some people don't even want to give us water when we're working."

Dican, who has worked as a day laborer since he came to the United States from Honduras more than two years ago, said he can earn $80 to $100 for a 10-hour day but often can only find one day of work a week. On a good week, he can work up to three days.

Most of that money goes to his wife and four children back home. A 19-year-old son died of cancer five months ago, but Dican, who is here illegally, could not go to Honduras for the funeral.

"I came here looking for a better future," said Dican. "But this is a hard life. One feels wounded, abandoned and alone."

Day laborer networks have proven effective in other cities, often by fighting anti-day laborers ordinances through the court system.

The next step for the Houston group is to go back to the corners and recruit more members. Leaders plan to meet again in about a month to start planning a campaign for improved conditions and a minimum wage.

The biggest obstacle may be getting other laborers to push past their fear of coming out of the shadows, said Amador. Dozens of workers from one Houston corner did not come to Saturday's meeting because they worried that the organizers were immigration agents in disguise.

"We are treated with condescension and disrespect," Dican said. "That's why we are trying to make this organization work."
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someone in Houston please someone help these people, to tell them that it is time to go home as they have no such labor rights, being in violation of our immigration laws. They are pawns in a big socio ethnocentric movement that uses them!

If I were walking by a day laborer center that had illegal aliens I would feel that my safety was being threatened. Illegal aliens are recognized by our Federal Government as a danger, therefore this would constitute a hazardous environment. Then, even if I couldn't find some miscreant liberal lawyer to take the case I would take it myself to small claims court. If I lived in Texas I could sue for as much as $5000. Other people might do this as well. And if I lived in a state with small claims limit of $25,000, like Tennessee, I might sue for that. Or if I lived in a state like Delaware or Georgia I might sue for $15,000. Or if I lived in Alaska for $10,000

Mind you , I ain't dispensin' legal advice but that is what I would do.

I remember being at the Kennedy Presidential Library right after Katrina for a talk by Ted Kennedy and there was a Mexican American college student from Houston Texas who was volunteering in Boston for an "immigrants rights" program. She said she was upset because the comprehensive immigrants rights bill was proceeding so slowly and now the Louisiana refugees were coming into Houston and that threatened to create competition and take jobs from day laborers.


The instructions from NumbersUSA HQ said that we were to be polite and to be inconspicuous. I felt so tempted.

Houston seems to be a Prime location for choice pickings ICE ... get busy or continue to be irrelevant

I'm sure there were several mexican flags displayed. Surprised White, Perry, and KAMNESTY were not there CELEBRATING with their supporters!!

You are the advocates of a new way to ask for your rights and to demand pay, a fair pay," said Amador, outreach coordinator with the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which has helped set up many of the local networks. "Out of this, we are getting documentation of the reality of day laborers in Houston."

LOL! These guys are starting to behave as if they were citizens of this country and actually had rights. Can someone please remind these misfits they are illegal and have absolutely no right to even be in this country, let alone legally work in this country!

How ironic these people are demanding they be treated fairly when in fact they have been quite unfair in their complete disregard for any number of laws they feel they do not have to obey.

Originally Posted by NoBueno

You are the advocates of a new way to ask for your rights and to demand pay, a fair pay," said Amador, outreach coordinator with the Los Angeles-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which has helped set up many of the local networks. "Out of this, we are getting documentation of the reality of day laborers in Houston."

LOL! These guys are starting to behave as if they were citizens of this country and actually had rights. Can someone please remind these misfits they are illegal and have absolutely no right to even be in this country, let alone legally work in this country!

How ironic these people are demanding they be treated fairly when in fact they have been quite unfair in their complete disregard for any number of laws they feel they do not have to obey.

What else are they to think listening to and watching our elected and appointed officials in ACTION!

U.S. Border Watch all but closed down a day labor site on stubner airline threw constant picketing on taking pitures of those trying to hire the illegals that people stopped going there to try to find day labors. U.S. Border Watch is a good bunch of patriots.

Wonder when they'll get that the ONLY reason employers would hire them is because they could get away with undercutting their wages? How can they protest for better wages if they cannot legally work in the US?

Didn't think of that, did they?