Thursday, February 05, 2004
An interesting possibility for mission:
From the Journal news
By ANDREA RUBIN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: February 3, 2004)
For 18 months, the day labor site in Spring Valley has offered workers everything from social services to English lessons.
It just hasn't been able to offer many jobs.
"The piece that is missing is getting the contractors to come here," said Vicki Cohen, a Nyack-based immigration attorney and a member of the Rockland Immigration Coalition, which helped create the site.
The Jornaleros Project, based at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Spring Valley, opened in July 2002 as a collaborative effort between the church and the Rockland Immigration Coalition. The site was designed to be a place where day workers could gather inside while waiting for employment.
Contractors, however, have been slow to make the transition to the church at South Madison Avenue and Route 59.
About 50 workers visit the center each day, volunteer Doris Zuckerberg said. Most come to participate in English classes or take advantage of social services available at the church rather than to find work, because most contractors continue to hire people waiting along Route 59.
The Spring Valley site is one of many around the country struggling to attract workers and potential employers, said Janice Fine, director of the Economic Policy Institute's National Immigrant Workers Centers Study.
There are more than 115 established work centers in 30 states, according to the study, conducted during the summer. California and New York have the most sites.
The success or failure of a day labor site relies on several criteria, Fine said, including the center's location, community support and how deeply the workers were involved in the formation and day-to-day operations of the site.
Almost all the day labor sites around the country have struggled to attract contractors, who then attract the workers.
"In most of the places that I know that have hiring halls," Fine said, "they all have this tension."
Even the most successful site found work for only about half the workers who showed up on a given day, Alverado said.
"The most important element of having a successful center is the number of jobs," Alverado said. "If 50 percent get jobs, you have a good center. If it's 40 percent, you're going to have issues.
"There's no center in the country that has addressed the issue totally," he said. "In no community are all the day laborers going to participate in the center."
The Mount Kisco police helped encourage workers and contractors to use the center. Now, about 50 workers regularly show up, and many of them find daily work.
Many successful worker sites, such as Casa de Maryland in Silver Spring, Md., The Workplace Project in Hempstead, N.Y., and Alverado's centers were designed and organized by the workers. The workers must have a stake in the center if it's to be successful, experts said.
"If you don't have a committee or community of workers who are interested in this site, then you have a losing battle," said Nadia Marin-Molina, executive director of The Workplace Project. "If they're not interested in it, you have to say, 'Why not?' Usually, the location is the biggest problem."
In Southern California, day laborers not only designed the centers, but helped run them, Alverado said. The workers determine a pay scale and lottery system as well as maintain rules.
"If the workers are not involved, they are going to be alienated," he said.
Casa de Maryland's East Silver Spring site opened after community residents complained about workers gathered in front of a local 7-Eleven, said Kim Propeack, advocacy director at Casa. Some workers contacted Casa, an existing group that aided immigrants, for help in organizing.
"It never would have worked if we hadn't been organizing with the workers," Propeack said. "People think these are just sort of cookie-cutter circumstances. If you come in with that mindset, the solution is more likely to fail."
Still, even the most loyal workers will use a center only if jobs are to be found there.
"They're willing to go anywhere where they think they can look for work," Fine said. "If they think this is a place where they can find work, they're going to go."
"They told the contractors, 'If we find you out here again, we're going to ticket you.' The police shouldn't just be scaring them away," she said. "They should really be enforcing the new site. Once we didn't allow the workers to get jobs at the old site, they used the new place."
Police also were involved with Casa de Maryland's efforts to get contractors to its location.
Some contractors shy away from organized sites, Fine said, because they fear they will have to pay higher wages or compensate employees if they are injured.
"A lot of them are doing this because they want to exploit low-wage workers who don't have any rights," Fine said. "It's not in their interest."
Organized employers groups, such the National Electrical Contractors Association, agreed.
"Our people are aware of the problem. We don't consider using them," he said. "We consider it a problem."
Other contractor groups, such as the Plumbing, Heating, Cooling Contractors Association, don't even address using day laborers.
Fine also suggested labor sites target nonprofit organizations in the county and ask them to use the day laborers.
Volunteers and organizers at the Spring Valley site have been brainstorming how to get more community involvement. Guillermo Perez, a union leader, said the workers should set up a quasi-union.
"You would have to create a board," he said. "And you would have to have workers on the board."
Alverado said it was good that St. Paul's offered classes and social services, but that the center must offer workers an opportunity to make money.
"You can bring all the clothes and the food that you want, but it doesn't matter," he said. "People need to feed their children. That's the bottom line."
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From the Journal news
By ANDREA RUBIN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: February 3, 2004)
For 18 months, the day labor site in Spring Valley has offered workers everything from social services to English lessons.
It just hasn't been able to offer many jobs.
"The piece that is missing is getting the contractors to come here," said Vicki Cohen, a Nyack-based immigration attorney and a member of the Rockland Immigration Coalition, which helped create the site.
The Jornaleros Project, based at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Spring Valley, opened in July 2002 as a collaborative effort between the church and the Rockland Immigration Coalition. The site was designed to be a place where day workers could gather inside while waiting for employment.
Contractors, however, have been slow to make the transition to the church at South Madison Avenue and Route 59.
About 50 workers visit the center each day, volunteer Doris Zuckerberg said. Most come to participate in English classes or take advantage of social services available at the church rather than to find work, because most contractors continue to hire people waiting along Route 59.
The Spring Valley site is one of many around the country struggling to attract workers and potential employers, said Janice Fine, director of the Economic Policy Institute's National Immigrant Workers Centers Study.
There are more than 115 established work centers in 30 states, according to the study, conducted during the summer. California and New York have the most sites.
The success or failure of a day labor site relies on several criteria, Fine said, including the center's location, community support and how deeply the workers were involved in the formation and day-to-day operations of the site.
Almost all the day labor sites around the country have struggled to attract contractors, who then attract the workers.
"In most of the places that I know that have hiring halls," Fine said, "they all have this tension."
Even the most successful site found work for only about half the workers who showed up on a given day, Alverado said.
"The most important element of having a successful center is the number of jobs," Alverado said. "If 50 percent get jobs, you have a good center. If it's 40 percent, you're going to have issues.
"There's no center in the country that has addressed the issue totally," he said. "In no community are all the day laborers going to participate in the center."
The Mount Kisco police helped encourage workers and contractors to use the center. Now, about 50 workers regularly show up, and many of them find daily work.
Many successful worker sites, such as Casa de Maryland in Silver Spring, Md., The Workplace Project in Hempstead, N.Y., and Alverado's centers were designed and organized by the workers. The workers must have a stake in the center if it's to be successful, experts said.
"If you don't have a committee or community of workers who are interested in this site, then you have a losing battle," said Nadia Marin-Molina, executive director of The Workplace Project. "If they're not interested in it, you have to say, 'Why not?' Usually, the location is the biggest problem."
In Southern California, day laborers not only designed the centers, but helped run them, Alverado said. The workers determine a pay scale and lottery system as well as maintain rules.
"If the workers are not involved, they are going to be alienated," he said.
Casa de Maryland's East Silver Spring site opened after community residents complained about workers gathered in front of a local 7-Eleven, said Kim Propeack, advocacy director at Casa. Some workers contacted Casa, an existing group that aided immigrants, for help in organizing.
"It never would have worked if we hadn't been organizing with the workers," Propeack said. "People think these are just sort of cookie-cutter circumstances. If you come in with that mindset, the solution is more likely to fail."
Still, even the most loyal workers will use a center only if jobs are to be found there.
"They're willing to go anywhere where they think they can look for work," Fine said. "If they think this is a place where they can find work, they're going to go."
"They told the contractors, 'If we find you out here again, we're going to ticket you.' The police shouldn't just be scaring them away," she said. "They should really be enforcing the new site. Once we didn't allow the workers to get jobs at the old site, they used the new place."
Police also were involved with Casa de Maryland's efforts to get contractors to its location.
Some contractors shy away from organized sites, Fine said, because they fear they will have to pay higher wages or compensate employees if they are injured.
"A lot of them are doing this because they want to exploit low-wage workers who don't have any rights," Fine said. "It's not in their interest."
Organized employers groups, such the National Electrical Contractors Association, agreed.
"Our people are aware of the problem. We don't consider using them," he said. "We consider it a problem."
Other contractor groups, such as the Plumbing, Heating, Cooling Contractors Association, don't even address using day laborers.
Fine also suggested labor sites target nonprofit organizations in the county and ask them to use the day laborers.
Volunteers and organizers at the Spring Valley site have been brainstorming how to get more community involvement. Guillermo Perez, a union leader, said the workers should set up a quasi-union.
"You would have to create a board," he said. "And you would have to have workers on the board."
Alverado said it was good that St. Paul's offered classes and social services, but that the center must offer workers an opportunity to make money.
"You can bring all the clothes and the food that you want, but it doesn't matter," he said. "People need to feed their children. That's the bottom line."
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