Thread: New day labor debate

New day labor debate
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Palm Beach Post Editorial

Monday, September 03, 2007

This Labor Day, the American workforce is as non-American as ever. Immigrants make up about 15 percent of the nation's 153 million workers. Roughly half of this foreign labor pool includes migrants and day laborers, most of them in the country illegally. The federal government's failure to control borders and reform immigration policy has forced state and local governments to deal with problems that Washington was supposed to solve.

Across the country, dozens of communities have started day labor centers that get immigrant workers off street corners and give them a place to connect with employers who want their work. The centers deal pragmatically with local realities: The laborers are here, they are needed, and help isn't coming from Washington. Congress couldn't pass an immigration reform bill, and probably won't come close again until after next year's election.

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Last year, Jupiter created a South Florida prototype for labor centers when it opened the El Sol Resource Center. But it is a prototype that is difficult to replicate. To make El Sol happen, Jupiter needed courage from its mayor and town council, open minds from its residents and committed cooperation from Catholic Charities and the Guatemalan advocacy group Corn Maya. Besides finding dozens of immigrants work each day, the center also teaches them English and gives them a stake in the town's future. The communication between cultures benefits everyone.

Other communities who have tried to follow the Jupiter model understand how difficult that is. Efforts in West Palm Beach's Northwood neighborhoods and Lake Worth's downtown have stalled over suitable sites and preoccupation with other issues, budget cuts in particular. In Martin County, immigrant advocates and government leaders have only begun discussing how to get workers off the streets in Stuart and Indiantown.

The new, rural town of Loxahatchee Groves west of Royal Palm Beach draws many migrants and day laborers because of its farms and nurseries. Each morning, men walk or ride bicycles to the intersections along Okeechobee Boulevard to look for employers. Last week, the town council held a workshop to discuss opening a center.

"It might be possible to find a site on private property," Vice Mayor Marge Herzog said. "Everything we've seen about the Jupiter center is positive. But we'll need help." Ms. Herzog hopes to find grants to supplement the limited resources of a town of 3,500. Labor Day has become an extension of the immigration debate for thousands of communities that have to think federally and act locally.


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/co ... _0903.html

Please go to this site to sign the petition........Don't forget to pass it on to as many people as possible.

The American Worker Needs Your Help!

......"Be it resolved therefore that the undersigned respectfully urge America's leaders to address the crisis facing American workers and commit to preserving American jobs for Americans; enforcing effective sanctions against employers hiring illegal aliens; requiring employers to hire Americans first, making their own aspirations and dreams of a middle class life a reality."


http://americanworker.org