March 16, 2006

By HILARY STERN
Guest Writer

July 15th started out as a lucky day. Artemio and Francisco (not their real names), two day laborers from Mexico, were picked up by a man at the Home Depot in SoDo and offered $15 an hour to work on home renovations. The man introduced himself as Tim. After seven hours of taping, caulking and sanding, Artemio and Francisco were done for the day. Tim told them to get into the truck and he would take them back to Home Depot. Tim hands Artemio a $100 bill and tells him to split it with Francisco. “Wait a minute,” says Artemio, “this is not what we agreed.”

“ $15 an hour? I said $50 a day,” Tim replied. Artemio argued with Tim on the way back to Home Depot. Tim took back the hundred-dollar bill and agreed to pay them once he got to Home Depot where he could pick up more cash along with more supplies. Along the way, Tim offered Artemio and Francisco work for another day.

Once in Home Depot, Artemio, Francisco and Tim loaded up a cart with supplies until Tim told them to go get some sandpaper and wait for him in the checkout line while he went to the bathroom. Artemio, suspecting that Tim was trying to give them the slip, told Francisco to follow Tim. Artemio ran to get the sandpaper and then ran outside to see if the truck was still there. It was. He went to the cash register and found Francisco waiting for him. They argued about why Francisco hadn’t followed Tim. After a few minutes, they looked outside and found that the truck was gone.

Three weeks later, Artemio spoke with Sarah Leyrer, a Seattle University law student who works at CASA Latina. He told Leyrer his story and together they tried to track down Tim. The cell phone number Tim gave was disconnected, but they were able to find the house address from a map that Arturo drew for Leyrer. Arturo was determined to get his wages back and Leyrer referred him to an attorney.

Norma Ureña Law Offices took up the case at the end of September. By now, the costs had risen as she was requesting not only Artemio’s pay, but also attorney fees. After repeated letters and phone calls with no result, Ureña informed Arturo that they could file a lien on the house. So Artemio put up the $33 filing fee. At the end of December a check for $834 arrived at Ureña Law Office — $190 for Arturo for his wages for that day six months ago plus his filing costs; the rest was to cover attorney fees.

Artemio was unusual only in that he did not accept this wage theft. A study released by the Center for the Study of Urban Poverty at UCLA in January 2006 found that underpayment and non-payment of wages was widespread among day laborers that wait for work outside. In fact, 49 percent of the laborers surveyed indicated that they had not been paid what was owed to them at least once in the previous two months. Almost half (44 percent) were denied food/water or breaks while on the job. One out of every five suffered a physical injury on the job. Half of those injured received no medical attention.

In addition, their very existence is seen as a crime by some businesses and residents. Fifteen percent were denied access to business establishments because of racial profiling. One in 10 day laborers has been harassed or arrested by local police solely because he or she is looking for work.

The shocking mistreatment of day laborers is obscene and demonstrates the government’s failure to adequately protect low-wage workers. In this day and age, no worker in the United States should suffer the abuses faced by day laborers. While our broken immigration system is partially to blame for creating this permanent underclass of workers, most of the abuses suffered by day laborers are illegal according to US and state labor laws. However, underfunded and weak government agencies are unable to enforce labor laws and employers are allowed to operate on the “honor system.”

This study recommends the public funding and establishment of more worker centers as the best way for local communities to respond to the presence of day laborers in public spaces. It also demonstrates the need for the enactment of appropriate labor laws and the enforcement of existing ones. There is also the need to strengthen institutions such as labor commissions in order to ensure their ability to effectively address wage and hour violations and other labor abuses. The study shows the need for comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship for all undocumented workers and their loved ones. n