The Regulated/ Organized sites
"The LA county ordinance prohibiting the solicitation of work on the street has been challenged in the recent lawsuit brought by CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles) and the MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund) …they negotiate with the police and sheriffs department over law enforcement and public relations issues.
" Attempts like the one mentioned above are a recent development of organizations and city council member intervention in the day laborers issue in LA. The few sites that have been organized and exist are in North Hollywood, Harbor City, Ladera Heights and Woodland Hills.
In N. Hollywood on Sherman Way, is a kind of a site that many feel is successful in solving some of the problems associated with day laborers.The N. Hollywood site was established in 1989 with the help of the City of LA as one of the first organized sites for day laborers to find work.
These are the changes that make the site organized : 1. It has a drive-through area where contractors can pull up to hire workers without causing any traffic problems.
2. Awning shelters protect workers waiting to be picked up.
3. Names are democratically pulled out from a lottery jar in order to get a job, as a means to avoid competition. A registration structure (a lottery including a numbering system and job skills categorization) ensures that a laborer is suited for a particular job and that jobs are obtained in a fair and organized manner. However, if a contractor requests a specific day laborer, or wishes to choose his or her own worker, the lottery system isn’t used in that particular instant.
-signing up in the morning.
- putting a numbered ticket in a lottery jar. Those who speak English have an extra ticket in a jar for English speakers, increasing their chances of getting work.
-The site coordinator (a CHIRLA representative) keep a list of the first 3 workers being picked, so employers don’t need to wait for the lottery results.
4. Free English and electrical lessons are given by volunteers in an adjacent trailer.
5. A small organic vegetable garden is maintained by day laborers, keeping themselves productive and busy, if they are not lucky in getting a job on any particular day.
6. Gardening tools are supplied by Home Depot and Clean the City organization.
7. Skills training for eligible workers enhances skills and assists in the acquisition of permanent employment.
A committee of workers has been elected to meet with the sheriff’s department and local residents, to negotiate a set of rules that ban drinking or pestering passersby. This site attracts about 100 workers a day; this number is physical evidence that the option of an organized site could be quite successful and welcomed by residents, businesses and day laborers alike . "There is order here" says Hector De Leon, 22, one of the workers who prefers the North Hollywood site, "it feels safer". Pablo Alvarado, the site coordinator, says it helps job seekers and employers, who make quicker adjustments to American life than those who solicit on street corners, thanks to literacy and English Classes at the center" . When I spoke with Manuel at the North Hollywood site, he said that he doesn’t need English classes since he has already been in America for 22 years, but presents his major problem as the lack of working tools. We talked about the option of renting used tools on site or collaborating with businesses that do. "Experience shows us that the first priority for a successful center is that it resolve the problems of the day laborers; as we all know, the biggest necessity for day laborers is work. The lack of it is the principal motive for which day laborers feel obligated to go to the streets to make sure that the work keeps coming; we go out four times a week to pass out flyers in places where there are employers… we also send flyers through the mail to many businesses that hire day laborers" (see table 3.1 and 3.2).
In Ladera Heights, day laborers have been allowed to use the restroom inside Home Depot and have helped stop shoplifting outside the store in exchange. A different kind of beneficial collaboration occurred in 1995 in Topanga, when a fire swept through the hills and the day laborers stood on the roofs of the houses along with property owners, helping to put out the sparks with garden hoses. The outcome of that was the residents withdrew off their oppositions to the day laborers’ gathering site.
There is a changing approach to day laborers due to their organization. For example, Sears Corp. has donated an old parking lot behind its store, with the persuasion of councilwomen Jackie Goldberg. A site was established, with the support of IDEPSCA (Institute of Popular Education of Southern CA), the LA police department and local merchants. This regulated site, called The Hollywood Community Job Center, is located at the corner of Virginia Av. & N. Saint Andrews and operates in a similar manner to the N. Hollywood regulated site.
Harbor park’s day laborers site is another example for regulated site. It was established 10 years ago by CHIRLA and it was the first site on city property. The city sponsors this site and made a verbal agreement with the INS regarding the operation of this site, and since than day laborers haven’t been harassed.
Another case is Home Depot in Woodland Hills leased a space to Labor Ready (a private temporary agency) in 1998. The project was conceived as a way to match customers and workers in one location. The Labor Ready agency doesn’t attract many day laborers, first because it offers services only for documented workers, and second because of the minimum wage, $5.75, while the employers pay the agency $11 an hour for health coverage and tax. The bottom line is less cash at the end of the day in exchange for some security. "We all know about the agency, nobody goes there", said Chicas, a 22 year old Mexican from Reseda. "I don’t like it, they pay you the minimum wage, if it paid more it would be fine. I can make up to $14 an hour on my own" .
The problem of exploitation of day laborers is still an unresolved matter, but one of CHIRLA’s tasks is to educate the workers on how to deal with employers that don’t honor the wage agreement established in advance, and how to file complaints against employers who exploit them. "Once they were organized, the workers themselves were able to take steps that can lead to an increase in earning power" . The organizing efforts of CHIRLA have given birth to a day laborer musical group, theater group, leadership development school and a soccer league. All respond to the needs and problems of the day laborers community that CHIRLA found by looking from grassroots up.
"Although there are various organizations and individuals in cooperation with the federal labor department trying to enforce safety and health laws, overtime pay and minimum wage - the ugly truth is that big growers and many business lobbyists want the illegal workers here because they are easy to exploit; otherwise Congress by now would have passed a law authorizing a temporary proof identity card that all job applicants would have to run that card through a national registry or face criminal penalties. As long as you have an economic system that needs migrant workers to do jobs that Americans no longer want to do, the battle at the border to chase out illegal immigrants makes no sense" . Businesses like Home Depot start to recognize the phenomenon of day laborers as an option to expand their business. Home Depot’s step was taken in reaction to clients numerous complaints regarding day laborers harassing and loitering. Since the partnership with Labor Ready (as mentioned before) and the agreement on rules maintained by day laborers, Home Depot has actually been trying to solve its problem with day laborers, knowing the benefits are mutual.
