Thread: Dubious debut for day labor center

Dubious debut for day labor center
Wednesday, January 3, 2007

By SAMANTHA HENRY
HERALD NEWS

PASSAIC -- The opening of a day laborer hiring center on Tuesday is believed to be the first city-supported facility of its kind in New Jersey.

The coming weeks will be crucial in determining whether the experiment will succeed, local officials said.

Mayor Samuel Rivera cut the ribbon and raised a toast to the day laborers Tuesday afternoon, a congratulatory gesture for their months of voluntary work, which had transformed a once-decrepit storefront at 39 Parker Ave. -- across from the Passaic Home Depot -- into a small, bright workers center bearing a sign in Spanish that read: United Day Laborers of Passaic: Solidarity and Justice.

But moments after the mayor departed, disputes erupted among the day laborers over how the center would be organized, how jobs would be assigned and who would be elected to represent the group.

More than 100 day laborers had forgone a day of work to attend the inauguration. They packed into the center to hear how it would be organized, and what the city's new rules would be for congregating by the Home Depot once the center was up and running.


Rivera promised the workers that the city would give them a grace period to get organized, but that after a month or so, police would resume ticketing any workers who loitered in the Home Depot parking lot, as well as any contractors who attempted to make pickups there.

The mayor also said the city would remove parking spaces in front of the center and create a pull-over zone for contractors to pick up day laborers in an orderly fashion. The city planned to issue the day laborers identification cards to protect them against unscrupulous contractors and help keep out day laborers from surrounding towns, Rivera said.

To reassure the workers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants, Rivera said, that the city identification cards would not be used for U.S. immigration purposes.

Rivera said he wanted to set an example for other municipalities in solving the day laborer situation in an amicable way that both respected the needs of the workers and the rights of city residents who objected to them congregating in large groups on public sidewalks.

"They are not going anyplace anytime soon, and I want to give them a hand," Rivera said. "They have been allowed to come to this country, and they have to eat somehow, and support their families. They're here to work, and they are a major work force all across the nation."

Other cities and towns across New Jersey have grappled with the day laborer controversy, and in most cases, local officials have opposed their presence.

In Freehold, city officials refused to allow day laborers a place to gather for years until advocates for the workers sued city officials, and won an out-of-court settlement. The day laborers are now allowed to congregate, but Freehold officials still refuse to allow them an official hiring center.

In Passaic, the city has been seeking a workable solution to the day laborer situation for years. Past agreements allowed them to solicit work in certain locations, but as their ranks quickly swelled into the hundreds in warmer months, complaints from local residents increased, culminating in a ticketing blitz by city police in March 2006.

The accelerated ticketing only galvanized the day laborers to try and organize themselves, and with initial assistance from a local community organization, they negotiated with the city to build the hiring center.

Rivera said the center will not receive any city money, but will be self-supported by the workers, and rented to them by a private landlord for $500 per month. The workers will receive the first six months rent free, in exchange for renovations they did with materials Rivera said he paid for out-of-pocket.

But persuading day laborers to use the center, and determining who will operate it, remain unresolved issues, said Jose Luis Aguilar, one of the day laborers who dedicated months of sweat equity to renovate the center. Aguilar tried appealing to the crowd on Tuesday to give the center a chance to succeed.

"Listen my brothers, we need your help or we won't get this all done, we can't make this happen," he said.

Despite the pleas from Aguilar and others, heated verbal exchanges broke out in the packed room, causing several workers to drift out of the center and back across the street to the Home Depot parking lot, where they resumed their regular posts, hoping to get picked up for a day's pay.

"They can talk all they want, but most of us prefer the system of the streets," said day laborer Jacobo Maceda. "They're making an effort with the center, but how will it work?"

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qst ... VFRXl5Mg==

Here's the Mayor's office phone number (973) 365-5510

Wait let me get this straight.... the city gives them a center to congregate and they are complaining about how it will work. Unbelievable!

WHERE IS ICE? NOW WE'RE EVEN HELPING THE LAW BREAKERS.

Exactly, give ICE the address and lock them up. If the city is giving illegals identification then they should be locked up as well.

They have been allowed to come to this country

What?

Originally Posted by akhope

They have been allowed to come to this country

What?

Unfortunately he is right about that. They HAVE been allowed to come in. We (our govt) have done absolutely nothing to stop them.

Great...once again we have to pander to illegal criminal invaders. Why in the hell would they open up a day labor site?
I find it hard to believe that there is ONE legal worker at any day labor site. We all know they gather at these sites to hopefully earn money under the table.
This is an outrage...I certainly the mayor and asked why such a place is even being put up. These people are illegal and need to be deported.