mama-cita don't ...

   let your sons grow up 
                 to be day laborers 

this sampling comes from:


"... 120,000 people 
that gather
 at more than 500 hiring sites 
to look for work on a typical day"



" three-fourths 
were illegal immigrants 
.....more than half said
 employers had cheated them 
on wages in the previous two months"

 


"49 percent 
 were employed by homeowners 
 43 percent by construction contractors"

  

"employed most frequently
 as construction laborers
 landscapers
 painters
 roofers 
and drywall installers"


"earned a median of $10 an hour "

"and $700 month"

  -------- only 70 hours pay 
         in a 4 /40
  or 160  hour pay period  -----------------



The professors who conducted the study said the

" most surprising find
 the pervasiveness of wage violations 
and dangerous conditions "


"Forty-nine percent 
 said that in the previous two months
 an employer had not paid them 
       for one or more days"

" Forty-four percent said 
some employers did not give them 
any breaks during the workday"

" while 28 percent said 
employers had insulted them"



" Nine percent reported being
   arrested while waiting for work"

"11 percent reported receiving police citations 
and 37 percent reported being 
chased away"
" 15 percent said merchants 
had not let them use their bathrooms
 or make purchases"



" 59 percent 
 were from Mexico
 and 
28 percent 
from Central America"

"only 7 percent were born in the United States"


" Sixty percent  said 
 day labor was their first occupation
 in the United States"







"Nearly three-fourths said 
they gathered at day labor sites 
five or more days a week
 with the average laborer
 finding work three to three-and-a-half days a week"

" In good months,
 day laborers earn $1,400,
 and in bad months, 
especially winter months, $500"


" 44 percent of those surveyed 
had been day laborers 
for less than a year"

" 30 percent had done that work
 for one to three years"

 " Twenty-six percent 
said they were day laborers
 for more than three years"


" Two-thirds said they had children"

 

"73 percent said they were placed 
in hazardous working conditions,"

" like digging ditches,
 working with chemicals,
 or on roofs or scaffolding. "

" employers often put day laborers 
into dangerous jobs 
that regular workers were reluctant to do"



"One-fifth said that in the past year
 they had suffered injuries
 requiring medical attention"

" 60 percent  said their injuries 
caused them to miss more than a week of work" 



" 54 percent of those injured 
said they had not received 
the medical care they needed"


 


"day 
labor centers "

" operate as hiring halls
 where workers and employers arrange to meet
 These centers,
 usually created in partnerships
 with local government or community organizations,
 often require workers and employers
 to register,
 helping to reduce abuses. 

The centers provide shelter,
 bathrooms and water
 - sometimes even English lessons -
 while workers wait. 

Many set a minimum wage,
 often $10 an hour, 
that employers must pay the laborers"



"The first thing to do 
to improve things for day laborers 
is to have more of these centers," 
sez
 Pablo Alvarado,
 national coordinator 
of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network

--------okay maybe so .....-------------

"The second thing is to have
 the government enforce 
  the labor laws more consistently."



--------after that market forces 
  will see to it
  these utopia  halls  empty out -----------------