May 2001

'Hits' target day labor thievery

Chicago--The day labor "industry" in Chicago is feeling the pressure from organizing done by the Chicago Day Labor Organizing Committee and its supporters in the community. The largest concentration of day labor agencies in the U.S. is located in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, where the Committee has focused its work. The work has gotten good press coverage, particularly in the Hispanic media. They have covered virtual slave conditions of immigrant workers at Chinese restaurants around the U.S.

The day labor "industry" hired a lobbyist to try to amend an Illinois Day Labor Standards Act that restricts agencies from deducting more than 3% of a person's daily pay for delivering the worker to a job site. Upon learning that this lobbyist had found Democratic State Senator James De Leo to introduce the amendment, the Committee mobilized with Jobs with Justice and its "watchdog" groups to prevent the amendment from even getting a hearing. This showed the agencies that they could not ignore the community.

On April 19, the Day Labor Organizing Committee, members of the community, and visitors from across the country did a "hit" on Ron's day labor agency to demand that they follow through with the promises of non-discrimination and a grievance procedure made at a "community accountability" session. Also, Ron's and three other agencies were audited by the Illinois Department of Labor (DOL) because of illegal deductions of more than 3% of workers' daily pay for delivery. From evidence delivered by the Committee, DOL found that over $200,000 had been stolen from people already working at minimum wage.

Ron's was forced to pay back $111,000 to affected day laborers. On Spanish language television, Dominic Vecchio, manager of Ron's, tried to weasel out of his obvious guilt by saying there are different "interpretations" of the law (the law is quite explicit) and that the money was being paid back (under duress).

Another agency in Chicago, Trojan, is being hit by the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission with solid accusations of discrimination by a former dispatcher. He was fired after he attempted to tell his corporate bosses that client companies were placing orders for and receiving "only Hispanic" workers for their worksites. Clearly this is to expose immigrant workers to sweatshop conditions that persons not threatened with deportation might resist.

The Committee also has received information that the chief dispatcher has extorted money from workers to place them on jobs. After the agency had already been paid for work done, she has reportedly stolen checks from people who she claimed did not have proper documentation. A source has said that this chief dispatcher has even sent drivers out to find "illegals" for jobs so that she could steal their money.

From faxes that the fired dispatcher turned over to the Committee, we found that at Trojan, people being paid $5.15 per hour were being offered to client companies for as little as $6 per hour. At this rate, the agency would not even be able to pay its "legitimate" overhead expenses. Where does the agency get the money? They get the money through such things as "service charges" and "transportation" (delivery) charges made on the worker.

Labor is the only commodity that can pay for its own delivery. This super exploitive "industry" drives down this "cost" by extracting more money from wages. Larry Solomon, owner of Labor Temps, Inc. told the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES that the present Illinois law, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2000, has "cost" him $500,000. To any other than a twisted bourgeois mind, it is obvious that labor created this wealth in the first place.

It has been suggested that Mr. Solomon should open a pizzeria and see if he can get the pizzas to pay for their own delivery. In the meantime, we'll consider doing another hit on him and see if this entrepreneur has the guts to come out and meet with us this time.

--Dennis Dixon