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by 1planet1people
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006 at 4:01 AM
A recent study (reported below) shows that most day labors are involved in their community, and trying to be good people. Further, there are too few of them to negatively affect the community. They usually earn money, helping people, not companies. What they need is our support, not our anger. SOS is blaming them for the effects of neo-globalization. In light of this study, SOS is not evil; they have simply been misinformed, and are blaming immigrants for the free trade policies the same way that Americans are told to blame Muslims for the attacks of 9/11. What we need to do is to educate these ignorant people as to the evil in their ways, and then get them to stand against the true enemies that we commonly share (neo-libs and neo-cons). Anyway, here is the report..... --------------------------------------------- Study Gives Snapshot of Day Laborers By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writer Sun Jan 22, 5:03 PM ET
LOS ANGELES - The immigrant day laborers who wait for work on street corners across the United States have families and attend church regularly, and the people who hire them are more likely to be individual homeowners than construction contractors.
ADVERTISEMENT The first nationwide study of day laborers also found that one in five has been injured on the job and nearly half have been cheated out of pay.
The study, the most detailed snapshot to date of the mostly Hispanic and often undocumented immigrants who've become a focal point in the immigration debate, was based on interviews of 2,660 workers at 264 hiring sites in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
The authors said they were surprised by the level of community involvement among men often thought of as transients.
"The day labor corner is not as disconnected from society as people think. It's seen as a shadow economy, but that's really not the case," said professor Nik Theodore of the University of Illinois at Chicago, one of three study authors. The others were from the University of California, Los Angeles, and New York's New School University.
Standing outside a Home Depot store in suburban Burbank on Sunday, 33-year-old Raul Sanchez said that when he's not working, or waiting for work, he's involved in a church and tried to start a soccer league for fellow day laborers. The native of Mexico has been in the United States seven years and lives with his wife and two children, ages 13 and 14.
Sometimes he worries about small work sites with little safety equipment.
"We know nobody is going to help us out if we get hurt," Sanchez said. "There are risks, but what are we going to do — not work?"
As often as not, a day laborer's employer will be an individual rather than a labor contractor.
Forty-nine percent of respondents said they were regularly hired by homeowners for everything from carpentry to gardening, with 43 percent getting jobs from construction contractors. Two-thirds said they are hired repeatedly by the same employer.
Based on their interviews and counts at each hiring site, the researchers estimate there are about 117,600 day laborers nationwide, but say that number is probably low. They said it would be impossible to count the number of hiring sites nationwide, since some spring up spontaneously.
Among the other findings based on the interviews conducted in July and August 2004:
_Three-fourths were illegal immigrants and most were Hispanic: 59 percent were from Mexico and 28 percent from other Central American countries.
_Just over half said they attended church regularly, 22 percent reported being involved in sports clubs and 26 percent said they participated in community centers.
_Nearly two-thirds had children, 36 percent were married and seven percent lived with a partner.
_More than 80 percent rely on day labor as their sole source of income, earning close to the 2005 federal poverty guideline of $12,830 for a family of two.
_Of the 20 percent who reported on-the-job injuries, more than half said they received no medical care because they couldn't afford it or their employer refused to cover them.
Cesar Martinez, 45, another of the people waiting for work at the Home Depot in Burbank, is a Guatemala native who has been in the United States for 15 years without legal documentation. He said he sends $300 to $500 home every month to support his six children, ages 2 to 14, but that sometimes an employer rips him off.
"I couldn't complain because I'm not here legally, but I was so angry because I need every cent," he said. "I'm always thinking, 'Are they going to pay me, am I going to get to work 8 hours on this job, will I get hurt doing it?'"
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LATEST COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Listed below are the 10 latest comments of 61 posted about this article.
These comments are anonymously submitted by the website visitors.
TITLE |
AUTHOR |
DATE |
DEPORT THEM ALL!!!!!!!!!!! |
Patriot |
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006 at 4:24 AM |
Three-fourths were illegal immigrants |
Border Raven |
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006 at 4:32 AM |
1/4 were legal |
johnk |
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006 at 8:03 AM |
1/4 were legal? |
Border Raven |
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006 at 2:07 PM |
1099 not W4 |
johnk |
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2006 at 10:31 PM |
focused on the workers because they are Latin American |
Border Raven |
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 at 1:44 AM |
Purple and White |
Jose |
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 at 8:44 AM |
Purple and White? |
Border Raven |
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 at 8:48 AM |
The ACTUAL Figures |
Minuteman Hunter |
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 at 8:49 AM |
Purple and White |
Jose |
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 at 8:54 AM |
White Undocumented |
johnk |
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 at 12:30 PM |
White Undocumented? |
Border Raven |
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 at 12:41 PM |
Cofused |
Confused |
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 at 2:10 PM |
SOS Computer Demos |
johnk |
Friday, Jan. 27, 2006 at 11:34 AM |
Maybe the SOS should open up a DLC? |
Border Raven |
Friday, Jan. 27, 2006 at 1:04 PM |
The actual facts |
AyatollahGondola |
Friday, Jan. 27, 2006 at 5:14 PM |
Step 2 |
Leslie |
Friday, Jan. 27, 2006 at 9:29 PM |
Wild extrapolation |
AyatollahGondola |
Friday, Jan. 27, 2006 at 10:02 PM |
Ayatollah |
K2 activist |
Friday, Jan. 27, 2006 at 10:22 PM |
Underground Economy Operations |
Border Raven |
Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006 at 1:10 AM |
go get the ones from China |
Border Raven |
Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006 at 1:35 AM |
Clarification, plz |
Leslie |
Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006 at 2:07 AM |
missing the point |
heck |
Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006 at 3:14 AM |
Asian Laboring |
johnk |
Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006 at 3:23 AM |
Maybe it's about |
Border Raven |
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2006 at 1:50 PM |
More coming? |
American |
Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2006 at 9:46 PM |
Yeah Ayatollah |
Nazi Hunter |
Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2006 at 6:54 AM |
Ayatollah, Border Raven |
Nazi Hunter |
Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2006 at 6:56 AM |
Evading the issue won't solve the problem |
Border Raven |
Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2006 at 9:39 AM |
Here's Lookin At Cha |
Nazi Hunter |
Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2006 at 4:22 PM |
Chinese Exclusion |
Nazi Hunter |
Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2006 at 4:26 PM |
I'll take efforts to exclude non-whites |
Border Raven |
Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2006 at 8:07 PM |
B.S. |
K2 activist |
Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2006 at 8:32 PM |
THEY HAVE TO? Prove it. |
Border Raven |
Wednesday, Feb. 01, 2006 at 10:26 PM |
BS Again |
K2 activist |
Thursday, Feb. 02, 2006 at 2:12 AM |
They come here as economic refugees |
Border Raven |
Thursday, Feb. 02, 2006 at 4:31 AM |
Here's Lookin At Cha |
Border Raven |
Thursday, Feb. 02, 2006 at 4:40 AM |
Other Migrations |
johnk |
Thursday, Feb. 02, 2006 at 4:50 AM |
BR |
Johnny |
Thursday, Feb. 02, 2006 at 6:00 AM |
Re: Here's Lookin at Cha |
Nazi Hunter |
Thursday, Feb. 02, 2006 at 6:52 AM |
YES, PEOPLE do HAVE TO COME HERE |
Morales |
Thursday, Feb. 02, 2006 at 8:13 AM |
Nazi Hunter |
Border Raven |
Thursday, Feb. 02, 2006 at 9:28 AM |
Fair Enough |
Nazi Hunter |
Thursday, Feb. 02, 2006 at 11:52 AM |
Fair Enough! |
Border Raven |
Thursday, Feb. 02, 2006 at 6:44 PM |
Right |
Eduardo |
Saturday, Feb. 04, 2006 at 9:26 AM |
Look Inside Urself |
Eduardo |
Saturday, Feb. 04, 2006 at 8:08 PM |
There will be NO SOS Gallery |
Elite Goon |
Saturday, Feb. 04, 2006 at 8:28 PM |
Childish |
El Chivo |
Sunday, Feb. 05, 2006 at 12:00 AM |
Elite Goon |
Border Raven |
Sunday, Feb. 05, 2006 at 1:23 AM |
U are lying to urself |
Border Raven |
Sunday, Feb. 05, 2006 at 4:56 AM |
BR + "Mexifreaks" |
Eduardo |
Sunday, Feb. 05, 2006 at 2:22 PM |
Mexifreaks? |
Border Raven |
Monday, Feb. 06, 2006 at 3:43 AM |
A Lesson for Border Raven |
Eduardo |
Monday, Feb. 06, 2006 at 12:28 PM |
Eduardo |
Border Raven |
Monday, Feb. 06, 2006 at 2:36 PM |
Sick Man |
Eduardo |
Monday, Feb. 06, 2006 at 11:19 PM |
Eduardo , what do you wan to be when you grow up? |
Border Raven |
Monday, Feb. 06, 2006 at 11:54 PM |
yuk yuk |
last defense |
Tuesday, Feb. 07, 2006 at 12:01 AM |
last defense another loser |
Border Raven |
Tuesday, Feb. 07, 2006 at 1:01 AM |
reply |
Jammer CC |
Tuesday, Feb. 07, 2006 at 5:40 AM |
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