Organizing the workers

BY DENISE M. BONILLA | Newsday Staff Writer

April 2, 2006

On any given weekday at 7 a.m., while day laborers clamor and run toward slowing vehicles in Farmingville and other Long Island communities, an orderly line of their fellow workers forms in a small trailer in Freeport.

Numbers are selected and a list is made. Contractors come inside the trailer, state their pay scales, are asked to give their full names and pick up their workers. Those laborers who remain play cards or soccer, learn English if they want, or attend a session on immigration law.

As the debate over immigration law reform rages in Washington, D.C., communities on Long Island continue to struggle with their own response to the influx of mostly Latino immigrants. While many communities grapple with groups of day laborers standing on street corners, three communities have established official hiring sites. Places such as the trailer in Freeport, supporters say, help address safety concerns while protecting laborers' rights.

"These people have come here risking their lives," said Pascual Blanco, executive director of La Fuerza Unida, which runs a sanctioned site in Glen Cove. "These are the people in the world most motivated to get ahead and better themselves. Can you imagine what they can do with a little help?"

The official sites - the third is in Huntington Station, with a fourth being discussed for the Hamptons - are vastly different in style but similar in concept: get workers together in one place off the street.

In Glen Cove, a lottery determines a worker's place on the list for that day. Contractors tell the site coordinator what they need, sign in and then the workers are crossed off the list. In Freeport, at the end of the day, workers who did not get jobs take part in another lottery for the first three spots on the next day's list. Both spots offer English and informational classes on everything from health issues to occupational safety. The sites also try to keep pay scales at a minimum of $80 to $100 a day. Workers on street corners are more vulnerable to undercutting.

"Out there, if you don't speak English, you get in the car without knowing how much you're going to make and if you want more, you can't ask for it," Freeport worker Moises, 24, said. Workers interviewed did not want to give their last names because they are undocumented.

Freeport coordinator Betsy Campisi helps workers hunt down contractors who stiff them and guides them in dealing with neglectful bosses who do not pay medical bills or offer workers' compensation. The workers are paid in cash and, because they are undocumented, don't pay taxes. Neither do the contractors. However, under state law the workers are entitled to file compensation claims, and contractors can be held responsible for such claims.

In Huntington Station, the men line up inside a dirt driveway framed with plastic chairs and picnic tables. They are steps away from the Huntington Station Enrichment Center, which offers English classes and information on safety and immigration law.

There is no list, contractors do not sign in, and workers run to approaching vehicles much as they do on street corners.

Traffic spurred creation

The sites were set up largely due to traffic safety concerns. While Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi supported the Glen Cove site, which started in 1994 while he was mayor of the city, his counterpart in Suffolk, Executive Steve Levy, has said the sites abet illegal activity. Worker exploitation, he said, is "not going to change one way or another because of a hiring hall." In an interview, Suozzi, who is now seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, said, "We don't have the jurisdiction, the money or the inclination to determine whether people have green cards or not. While everybody continues to debate ... we solved the problem."

Glen Cove and Freeport, which opened three years ago, average about 30 workers a day while the 7-year-old Huntington Station site sees 200 to 300 workers. Each center costs $75,000 to $100,000 a year to operate, paid for by charities and not-for-profits, and all report workers and contractors coming from as far away as Queens and New Jersey.

In Glen Cove, large letters with English words common to the construction industry flow in a line around the room as education tools: A-Axe, B-Brushes. A local contractor walks in just before 8 a.m. and asks for two workers, saying he will pay them $10 an hour. Site coordinator Patricia Sarro calls out the first two names on her list and shouts "Venga!" - "Come!" - as the men jump up.

Ziggy Weiss, the contractor, said he used to pick up help from the corners. "The corner is distasteful," he said. "It's like a slave market, everyone running around. This is very organized."

An immigrant himself who came from Israel 42 years ago, Weiss, 62, said he understands wanting to protect the borders and collect taxes but also empathizes with the workers. "I believe in opportunity," he said. "I received some when I came here."

Official hiring sites reduce hate crimes and incidents of worker exploitation, said Gregory Maney, assistant professor of sociology at Hofstra University and author of a recent study examining human rights abuse among day laborers. The study showed nearly a quarter of all workers experienced physical abuse while looking for work, but that areas with official sites fared better than unorganized gathering places.

Still, many workers avoid the sites. In Freeport last week, more workers waited by Dunkin' Donuts and Home Depot than at the hiring site just blocks away. Many contractors don't know where the hiring sites are, said some workers, who believe they have a better chance of getting work and negotiating higher pay away from the sites.

"You may go at 6 a.m. and be first on the list but then there's 40 people and the next day you may be first again but you may be 40th," said Flores, 33, a laborer waiting by Home Depot.

A growing trend

Immigrant worker centers around the U.S. have increased from five in 1992 to more than 140 today and provide valuable structure and community to workers, said Janice Fine, assistant professor at Rutgers University and author of a nationwide study on worker centers. As the debate in Washington continues, communities grappling with an influx of immigrants need to pay attention now, said Fine.

"Because we don't have an effective immigration policy, it really is at the local level where the rubber hits the road," said Fine, who grew up in Freeport. "Local communities have to negotiate now how they are going to do this."

Workers say they understand the government's concerns but also want to keep working. "It's very hard if you don't have your papers," said Freeport worker Rosendo, 32. "If I could get residency or even a work permit it would be good for me and benefit the [contractors]."

Those who run the work sites are also paying attention to the discussion, but said right now it's only words. "Until it actually starts affecting us, it's not something that will change what we do here," said Jose Caceres, the Huntington Station site supervisor. "We've built a community here, we're helping people who need help. "There's no need for us to change the way we've been doing things."