The Day Laborer Project of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)

The Outreach Component

Objectives
1. Address public health and safety issues associated with day laborer congregation on street corners.
2. Build an environment of peaceful and harmonious coexistence between day laborer stakeholders.
3. Promote the existing official hiring sites.
4. Improve the quality of life of day laborers and the general community.
5. Explore potential to open new hiring sites and establish more designated areas for hiring at corners.
6. Build a stronger day labor community.
7. Reduce the number of day laborers who congregate at various street corners.
8. Construct an atmosphere where the rights of all people impacted by the day laborer practice are respected. These include residents, business owners, day laborers, employers, pedestrians, etc.
9. Cultivate a sense of individual and collective responsibility among day laborers.
10. Facilitate the integration of day laborers to the communities where they live and work.
11. Establish linkages between corners and centers.

Case Study: The Woodland Hills Experience
The following case study illustrates CHIRLA’s outreach work.

The Problem
In Woodland Hills, an area of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, tensions and conflicts over the presence of day laborers had existed for a decade, but intensified when the workers spread across several blocks into the residential areas. Residents regularly called the police and INS and attempted to drive day laborers away through law enforcement activities, and local businesses refused to serve the day laborers. Relations in the community had deteriorated to the point of children throwing eggs at the day laborers from passing vehicles. As a whole, the community sent a message that the day laborers were not welcome in Woodland Hills. But because employers continued to seek workers at this corner, the workers continued to congregate there.

The Steps

In early 1997, CHIRLA, which had been facilitating dialogue between day laborer stakeholders in different communities and cities since 1989, contracted with the City of Los Angeles to run the city’s day labor program. This included managing the city’s established sites as well as implementing a conflict resolution model in problem areas. The City asked CHIRLA to begin with Woodland Hills because the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was overwhelmed with complaint calls from that area.
CHIRLA staff spoke first with the day laborers to assess their perception of the problem, and then to the police about the situation at the corner. Finally, CHIRLA attended one of the homeowners association’s monthly meetings, which regularly featured the day laborer issue as the first agenda item.

The Solution and the Role of Law Enforcement

Having spoken to all parties, CHIRLA staff returned to the corner with representatives from the LAPD and worked with the day laborers to reach an agreement that would address their needs and the residents’ concerns. The workers agreed to move down the street away from the residential area and to implement a set of rules. They agreed to ask employers to park safely before discussing work and not to block the streets themselves. They also agreed not to litter, catcall, gamble, drink or relieve themselves in public. Furthermore, they agreed to ask everyone to either follow the rules, or leave the area, and to call the police if they refused to leave. A local fast food restaurant agreed to let the workers use the restroom facilities. The LAPD agreed to support the workers by not ticketing or harassing them. They also agreed to help workers identify the men who used the corner for illicit activities rather than job seeking.
CHIRLA staff, the day laborers and the LAPD attended the next neighborhood residents meeting. The residents were pleased with the improvement they saw and agreed to work with the day laborers, rather than call the police or INS. The residents formed the Woodland Hills Day Labor Committee, which would also include day laborers, CHIRLA and LAPD, and would meet monthly to resolve conflicts.
The new rules and the heightened understanding of the day laborers situation on the part of the surrounding community helped alleviate what had been a very divisive situation. The day laborers also began to work with the community on such projects as community cleanup projects, which resulted in a growing sense of mutual respect and tolerance.

In the beginning, CHIRLA staff spent three mornings a week at the site helping the day laborers to organize themselves and to institute the rules, as well as to resolve such problems such as non-paid wages. Within in two years, CHIRLA had reduced its site visits to bi-monthly, as the day laborers were organized and the community readily adopted the program as its own.

Other Crucial Program Elements

Woodland Hills is only one of the projects that CHIRLA runs using the same model of conflict resolution and day laborer organizing. CHIRLA has been successful at not only organizing workers on a given corner, but also at bringing workers together from different communities, in training seminars and inter-corner conferences, to share experiences and gain skills. Day laborers from already organized corners have been an essential resource in training leaders at newer corners.

CHIRLA has also assisted workers in organizing a soccer team, and invited workers to inter-corner conferences and leadership development workshops. A newsletter put out by CHIRLA keeps the workers informed about agreements and what is happening on different corners. CHIRLA also provides wage claim services, referrals and legal advice.

Excerpted from the CHIRLA document “The Day Laborer Project Outreach Component” published by CHIRLA in Los Angeles in May 1991. Provided courtesy of CHIRLA. For more information, please contact Pablo Alvarado at CHIRLA, 213-353-1333

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