So that's what he does when he's not playing golf!
Posted on 10/09/2005 2:53:25 PM PDT by Gomez
A sign urging the customers of a San Rafael business not to hire day laborers has angered and frustrated local workers, who say it's making it harder for them to find a job. But employees of U-Haul on East Francisco Boulevard who posted the sign say they're only trying to protect their customers - and themselves - from the risks involved in hiring undocumented workers.
The large cardboard sign, on display in the moving company's customer service area for the past three days, reads "Please do not hire illegal laborers. We have had numerous reports of injuries, thefts and damages to personal belongings. It is a federal crime to employ or pick up illegal day laborers, punishable by a $5,000 fine."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will impose fines upon those who knowingly hire someone who is not authorized to work in the United States. However, not everyone who seeks work as a day laborer is an illegal alien.
"One of the things our study found is that, in localities where immigration sweeps have occurred, it's never the case that all the people picked up are deportable," said Robin Toma, who evaluated San Rafael's ongoing conflict over day laborers as part of a 2001 report for the Los Angeles County Human Rights Commission. "The presumption that they're all illegal is, in fact, inaccurate."
In addition, San Rafael police say they've heard nothing about damage to property caused by local laborers.
"We've had businesses call regarding day laborers trespassing on the property of the business owners," said San Rafael police Sgt. David Starnes. "And if people were violating the law by stopping in the middle of the roadway to pick up laborers, we would certainly cite them. But there have been no significant problems."
U-Haul Assistant Manager V.J. Singh said he hasn't received any complaints from customers about thefts or damage caused by laborers in the past year.
"That was a long time ago," Singh said.
The sign, he said, was an attempt to head off problems before they occur. U-Haul doesn't want to be held responsible for crimes that could be committed by someone hired on or near its property.
"Some of these (day laborers) they deal with are good, and some aren't," Singh said. "We're telling them what could happen, and that if they choose to hire someone, it's at their own risk."
Emilio Robles doesn't see it that way.
The Canal Street resident is one of about 10 who gather outside the U-Haul building every morning - weekends included - in search of work. He doesn't like being characterized as a potential criminal.
"It's racist," Robles said. "They're trying to put Mexicans out of work. We need to work in order to feed our families, and we need jobs in order to work. We're not here looking for a handout. We want to work."
Singh said he sympathizes with the problem.
"Everyone needs to work. That's how I see it," said Singh, who said he has heard no complaints from any of the laborers outside the U-Haul office. "The sign is just so that people don't complain to us about anything that happens on our property."
The dispute over the sign is the latest chapter in a long series of disagreements over the role of immigrant labor in the community - a dispute that has scuttled plans to build a hiring center for laborers in the past.
"This is an issue with a long history," said Tom Wilson, co-executive director of the Canal Alliance, an agency that provides assistance to local laborers.
Wilson said he has already received about a dozen complaints about the U-Haul company's sign.
"The tack they're taking is a particularly troubling one," Wilson said. "They're painting illegal day workers as criminals, making generalizations about a group of people."
In the absence of a central hiring area, Wilson said, workers tend to go where they're needed. Painters look for work near paint stores, and movers gather near companies like U-Haul.
"I would like to see them have a good place to go where they could be hired, someplace with dignity," Wilson said.
Toma agreed. After studying a number of communities - including San Rafael - and their approach to day laborers, Toma concluded that areas with designated spots for laborers to gather did best at addressing both the problems laborers face and the fears many in the surrounding community feel.
"People complain that crime will increase in the presence of these areas. But we've never seen evidence of that," Toma said. "If anything, we believe that where there are a lot of day laborers hanging around, looking around, it may actually discourage other kinds of crime."
As for the sign, Wilson said he plans to speak with the owner of the U-Haul company to ask that it be removed.
"We're seeing a noticeable drop-off in people being hired," he said.
Both Singh and Robles agree, however, that the sign has not discouraged workers from continuing to gather outside the company.
"I'm inside most of the time, but there seems to be the same number of people who have always been here," Singh said.
So that's what he does when he's not playing golf!
So how do people who are here illegally have a right to bitch? Damn, just damn.
A prudent measure legally speaking. After all the owners
"knew" that the laborers would be there and sometimes things
were stolen so why did you let them stay there?
And of course the "racist" charge is leveled. The plain fact
is if the day laboreres were serious they would make a small
business of it and behave in a respectable fashion. That way
both the lot owners and truck renters and the laboreres will
know what they are getting into.
It may be a good idea for everyone to start asking their building contrators if they are getting an illegal alien discount. I am skeptical that they are passing on their considerable savings to their customers. I personally think that if they aren't going to enforce immigration laws then at least they can do is levy a tax on all money being sent to Mexico via Western Union.
Let's see..."illegal", "criminals"...
Works for me!
Posting the sign in Spanish was probably overkill ...
Singh is more common than Smith.
They're painting illegal day workers as criminals, making generalizations about a group of people.
THEY ARE CRIMINALS - that is why they are called ILLEGAL!!!!
"That was a long time ago," Singh said.
Mr. Singh has a different definition of "a long time ago" than I do.
Its like the doper complaining to the police because his stash of dope was stolen.
good idea needs to be spread to western union
If they have valid ID and Social Security Number, it shouldn't be too hard to find a job. If they're legal citizens and only want to work day labor jobs, they must be laying low for some reason. Everybody else has to show valid ID and/or SSN to be employed, I don't see why day laborers are so special that they shouldn't have to.
On E-pinions you can read about experiences
people have had with different do-it-yourself
movers. We went with Penske after reading those
reviews and travelled 1800 miles without a hitch.
Every time there was a steep mountain climb
invariably there would be a broken down U-Haul
truck by the side of the road - but maybe that
was just a coincidence!
Four years ago?
LOL Riiiiight.
All Sikhs have the surname Singh which means "lion".
Yeah, right. Not really on point here, but U-Haul is a totally inept, piece of crap company. When we moved from IL to CO 1-1/2 ago, we made the mistake of using U-Haul. We got as far as Des Moines (3 hours, and the drive shaft crumbled and fell right off while we were at a stoplight. They sent someone to tow and transload the truck from a local trucking co. that they contract to. They never told us that we needed to supervise the transload.
We got to CO 3 days later, yes 3 days and as soon as we enter our town, the second truck broke down and had to be towed to our residence.
In the process of unloading, we saw that much of our belongings had been damaged by the contract co. Neither them nor U-Haul wanted to take responsibility. After much aggravation, U-Haul finally reimbursed us about 1/3 of the cost of the rental, but nothing for the damages.
I also sent them 3 e-mails after the settlement and recieved NO response whatsoever.
Long story short, we will NEVER use them again and will discourage everyone we know from using them as well.
End of rant.
That's like saying that not everybody who pays to get into Candlestick Park is there to watch a baseball game.
What legitimate reason does a person have for working a job that pays in cash, hires for single-day labor, and requires no documentation? If you can't get hired by a temp agency, you're not legal or you're not trying.
Notice that the sign says, ""Please do not hire illegal laborers. . ." That word "illegal" sure gets them in a twist, doesn't it? The sign says nothing about barring all day-laborers. What does this tell you about day labor?
I'll be damned----I learn more at FR than I ever learned in school.
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