A few stories I found about day laborer issues around the country:

Ernie Garcia writes in the Westchester Journal-News, Some Yonkers day laborers support city search for hiring site:

Last year city officials allocated $70,000 to open and operate a hiring site for any city resident in search of a day-laborer job.

The city designated NADAP, a nonprofit organization without prior experience working with day laborers, to find a suitable site.

“There doesn’t seem to be any place that is feasible for what we want to do,” said Lucy Redzeposki, managing director for the Yonkers Employment Center, which NADAP runs. “Either the landlords don’t want it, or the neighbors don’t want it, or there was trouble with a bus stop.”

Redzeposki said her organization has offered a finder’s fee, hired a consultant and asked city planning officials to help identify a site, all with no luck.

Six sites that were identified ultimately did not work out.

“The city’s been willing to do it, but you can’t force people out to set up a day-laborer site,” said Redzeposki. “I understand their impatience. They must have thought that by now we would have a place.”

Matthew Rodriguez writes in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Day-labor law costs Vista $3,000 so far:

VISTA – Nearly five months after enacting an ordinance requiring employers to register before hiring day laborers, the city has paid about $3,000 in overtime for code enforcement officers to enforce the law.

City officials say the overtime is necessary because no new code compliance officers have been hired to patrol the site.

The City Council unanimously approved the day-labor employment ordinance in June at two contentious council meetings, with supporters and opponents demonstrating outside the council chambers.

The ordinance requires employers to register with the city before hiring day laborers from locations they don’t control, such as the informal hiring site at the Vons shopping center near Escondido and South Santa Fe avenues.

The American Civil Liberties Union and California Rural Legal Assistance Inc. have sued the city, alleging that the ordinance restricts free speech. A federal judge, however, denied a temporary restraining order sought as part of the lawsuit.

More than 70 employers have registered with the city since it took effect July 28. The city has issued 42 citations – at $100 each – and the majority of those cited have subsequently registered, officials say.

The city hasn’t issued more than one citation to an employer, said Patrick Johnson, deputy city manager. A second citation carries a $200 fine, and any after that cost $500.

Meanwhile, a group that opposed the day-labor ordinance plans to hold a workshop next month to discuss the ordinance. The Coalition for Justice, Peace & Dignity announced the workshop for Jan. 6 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Vista branch of the San Diego County Library, 700 Eucalyptus Ave.

Tina Jillings, who co-founded the organization, said the group has heard complaints from residents who have been cited for failing to register with the city.

“We want them to know what the city’s policies are exactly,” she said. “Also, we want to encourage people to register.”

Samantha Henry of the New Jersy Herald News writes, Dubious debut for day labor center:

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 [139] 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.

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?”

A Bill requiring fair wages and work rules for day laborers introduced in Texas. Seems to me like this is a good idea for a variety of reasons. It appears to be designed to protect both the day laborers as well as the workers they might displace. At the same time, I suspect it eliminates many of the incentives to use day labor. Very interesting approach.

SUBCHAPTER B. PAYMENT OF DAY LABORERS
Sec. 53.051. SUSTAINABLE WAGE REQUIRED.

  • (a) A day labor employer shall pay a day laborer a wage rate that is not less than the prevailing wage rate paid to permanent employees who are performing substantially equivalent work, with due consideration given to seniority, experience, and skills.
  • (b) A day labor employer may not reduce the wage rate of any permanent full-time employee in order to comply with this section.
  • (c) A day labor employer may not pay a day laborer a regular hourly rate of pay that is less than the minimum wage required by law.

Sec. 53.054. NOTICE OF WAGE RATE REQUIRED.

  • (a) A day labor employer shall provide notice of the wage rate expected to be paid to each day laborer.
  • (b) A day labor service agency shall provide notice to each day laborer of the wage rate expected to be paid by each third party employer using the services of the agency. The notice must be provided in English and Spanish.
  • (c) A third party employer using the services of a day labor service agency shall pay a day laborer a wage rate that is not less than the wage rate stated in the notice provided to the day laborer by the agency. A third party employer may not reduce the wage rate of any permanent full-time employee in order to comply with this subsection.

Sec. 53.055. MINIMUM DAILY WAGE RATE. A day labor employer shall compensate a day laborer for at least four hours of work for each workday worked by the day laborer.

Sec. 53.056. COMPENSATION FOR OVERTIME.

  • (a) A day labor employer shall pay a day laborer one and one-half times the regular hourly rate of pay for:

    • (1) each hour worked by the day laborer in excess of eight hours during any workday, up to and including 12 hours; and
    • (2) each of the first eight hours worked by the day laborer during a workday if the workday is the seventh consecutive workday worked by the day laborer in that week.
  • (b) A day labor employer shall pay a day laborer double the regular hourly rate of pay for:
    • (1) each hour worked by the day laborer in excess of 12 hours during any workday; and
    • (2) each hour worked by the day laborer in excess of eight hours during a workday if the workday is the seventh consecutive workday worked by the day laborer in that week.