Category Archives: Workers Centers News

EEUU: Jornaleros en esquinas ya no están solos – Yahoo Noticias

NUEVA YORK (AP) — Martín García Ibáñez ha pasado de ganar 80 dólares diarios limpiando el sótano de un edificio afectado por el huracán Sandy a 180 haciendo de carpintero en un edificio en remodelación en Brooklyn, Nueva York.

El mexicano de 34 años dejó de sufrir jornadas de 12 horas diarias en duras condiciones y sin equipo de protección, a trabajar ahora ocho horas con casco, gafas y guantes. Dispone además de dos descansos diarios que incluyen 20 minutos para comer.

“Ha sido un cambio drástico”, dijo Ibáñez. “Mi vida ha mejorado no sólo en los salarios sino en la calidad de trabajo. Antes trabajaba en zonas peligrosas y ahora estoy con una compañía, en una zona segura y con material de protección”.

Hispanos de organizaciones no lucrativas reciben reconocimiento

Perspectives: Worker Centers and the AFL-CIO National Convention – Law at the Margins

On September 8, the AFL-CIO will kick off its national convention in Los Angeles.  The last time it was held in L.A. was in 1999, case when the AFL-CIO announced its historic declaration for a legalization program for all undocumented immigrants, increased workplace protection for immigrant workers and an end to employer sanction laws, which it supported back in 1986 as part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA).  The national convention this year in LA will also be a historic one.  With union density at around 12% (the private sector below 7%), the labor movement today is in a state of crisis.  As the recent deep recession, or depression as some economists have labeled it, has shown us, the labor movement is really the only safety net that we have in this country for the working class.

Criminal justice administration students create video for Hayward Day Laborer Center

Cal State East Bay criminal justice administration students have provided the Hayward Day Labor Center with a video to inform day laborers on protecting themselves against wage theft and other forms of exploitation. Alejandro Galindo, job developer and legal advocate for the center, says the film is so successful that similar organizations across the country are already asking for a similar video to address their needs. Silvina Ituarte, professor and chair of CSUEB’s Criminal Justice Administration Department, learned of this need from consulting with Galindo, and offered a Day Laborer Center project to her student this fall in the “Prejudice, Violence and Hate Crimes” (CRJA 4330) class.  Criminal justice majors Joshua Chavez, Ramneet Dhillon, Robert Huerta, Andreina Leon, Kristen Martin, Vinh Nguyen, Jagdeep Singh, Jaclyn Skinner, Helen Luu and Bryant Weatheroy created the film in about six weeks, with the leadership of Huerta, who owns a film company.

Rodo de Salario – Hayward Day Labor Center

Read more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2WJ-ed9OUw&feature=youtu.be

Jornaleros indocumentados pierden centro de empleo en NY – laopinion.com

Gavino Hernández observaba con tristeza ayer lo que quedó en el interior de una pequeña casita roja de madera donde logró encontrar trabajo como jornalero durante varios años. “Nos sentimos en la ruina. No nos queda nada”, murmuró el mexicano indocumentado, más conocido como “Camilo” y quien hace trabajos esporádicos de construcción. “Queremos que los compañeros sigan aquí todavía. En las esquinas, haciendo de jornalero, uno corre mucho peligro”. Hernández hablaba de “la casita”, una diminuta estructura de madera con una puerta amarilla que alentó a cientos de jornaleros durante más de una década en el barrio de Bensonhurst, en Brooklyn. Allí se reunían pronto por las mañanas, se organizaban y eran recogidos por empresas de construcción que necesitan mano de obra barata durante el día. Los vientos huracanados de la supertormenta Sandy, sin embargo, arrancaron de cuajo el pequeño centro y lo trasladaron unos 50 metros al norte, en el centro comercial de Ceasar Bay.

Sandy Sweeps Away New York City’s Only Day Laborer Center

A storm surge from Hurricane Sandy unmoored the Bay Parkway Community Job Center, and New York City’s only center for day laborers, online and moved it a couple hundred feet inland from the Bensonhurst shore, cracking one of its walls in the process. Ligia Guallpa of the Worker Justice Projects, which operates the center, and Lionel, one of the center’s founders, tried to show it to me Tuesday afternoon, but the New York Police Department objected.   “I’m trying to be nice, okay? You have to go,” Office Dym instructed us. “We’re here for a reason,” he said, getting out of his vehicle to push me away. “It’s not safe.”   “See?” Guallpa lamented. “This is what they do to us every morning when we have workers.” The police have blocked off the “hazard area” around the center, though just why was not remotely apparent, when we subsequently snuck in the back way. Despite repeated inquiries form Guallpa and the Worker Justice Center, the authorities have refused to estimate when the “hazard area”…

Centreville Day Laborers Site Almost Ready

It’s been more than a year since Fairfax County Supervisor Michael Frey called a public meeting to discuss the proposal to open a hiring site for immigrant day laborers in Centreville. “The atmosphere was obviously pretty heated,” he says.  But Frey, a Republican, says most of the objections came from residents who had a problem with federal immigration policy. “The people that were objecting were objecting because they believed all the day laborers were here illegally, and wanted that problem solved,” Frey says.  Frey understands those concerns. But he points out the county has little power to influence federal immigration enforcement, and the center is a way to keep immigrant workers who are looking for work from gathering on street corners and impeding commerce and traffic. It will also keeping the workers themselves safer, Frey adds. Alice Foltz is the temporary director of the Centreville Immigration Forum, a coalition of churchgoers that came up with the idea…

Day laborer supporters rally in Pomona – ContraCostaTimes

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