The man who calls himself “America’s toughest sheriff” made his way into the federal district courtroom here on Tuesday wearing a black suit and a stern expression. He spelled out his name for the clerk — “Joseph M. Arpaio, A-R-P-A-I-O,” then raised his right hand, swearing to tell the truth before he took the stand. “We do not arrest people becau
Their faces are vague, order the color of coffee beans, but before Ramiro Gomez heads out with pliers and wire to install them, he gives each one a name. There was Guillermina, named for his Aunt Guille, a housekeeper at a casino hotel; Maria Elena, after his mom, a janitor at an elementary school; and Luis, like Uncle Luis, who delivers meat for a
)“You see a contractor managing a job one day and you think ‘Why not me?’” said Carlos Diaz. The day laborer was one of several dozen people gathered at Don Juan’s restaurant in Mount Pleasant on a weekend evening in April, to form a worker-owned cooperative, seeking to break away from the risk and uncertainty typical of their jobs on local constru
)“You see a contractor managing a job one day and you think ‘Why not me?’” said Carlos Diaz. The day laborer was one of several dozen people gathered at Don Juan’s restaurant in Mount Pleasant on a weekend evening in April, to form a worker-owned cooperative, seeking to break away from the risk and uncertainty typical of their jobs on local constru
The voice of Luis González is heard Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Radio Centro Laboral, patient a Los Angeles-based online station over which this Guatemalan day laborer broadcasts a message of hope. Listening to him speak and hearing his tone of voice, his cadence and diction, it sounds like his natural destiny in life was to be an
It has been more than six months since the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Redondo Beach, click Calif., violated the Constitution with an ordinance making it illegal for day laborers to solicit work from the sidewalk. The city had used the ordinance to crack down on immigrant laborers in…
A group of day laborers urged Pomona City Council members on Monday night to continue providing funding for the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center. The center, also known as the Pomona Day Labor Center, has been open for about 15 years with financial support from the city. In recent years, the center received financial assistance through the city’s now defunct redevelopment agency. The center has not received funding since the middle of last year following the approval of state legislation approving the dismantling of redevelopment agencies around the state. The passage of the legislation kicked off months in which the future of redevelopment agencies became unclear. Day laborers and their supporters, which included students, labor organizers, immigrant rights activists and others, held a rally outside of Pomona City Hall prior to the start of Monday’s meeting. – Contra Costa Times 04.03.2012
LOS ANGELES – The voice of Luis Gonzalez is heard Monday through Friday from 8:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Radio Centro Laboral, a Los Angeles-based online station over which this Guatemalan day laborer broadcasts a message of hope. Listening to him speak and hearing his tone of voice, story his cadence and diction, it sounds like his natural destiny in life was to be an announcer – but getting there took him 50 years. “I’m 52 years old and all my life I admired the great radio announcers, I dreamed of being one, but thought it was too hard because I only studied up to the sixth grade and I’ve always had to work hard to earn a living,” Gonzalez told Efe in an interview. He came to the United States in the year 2000 looking for a better life, and eventually came upon one of the day-laborer centers of the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California, or IDEPSCA, where immigrants from different countries gather every day hoping for contractors to show up and give them work.
Blustery winds and dark clouds on a recent weekday morning combined with a down economy meant there would be no work for the dozen men and two women in the waiting area of the Nevada State Day Labor Office. Meanwhile, business owners and homeowners across the region scratched their heads as they compared the odd jobs that need to be done against
MALDEF announced yesterday that it has sent – on behalf of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) – the first wave of demand letters to a dozen municipalities across California threatening legal action if they fail to repeal laws limiting the right to solicit employment, business or contributions in public areas. While applicable to