August 2006
STREETVIBES Cover Story
Day Labor in Cincinnati: A Portrait of Exploitation
They then work until 4:00pm, by Georgine Getty, Executive Director, Greater often with no breaks. Workers Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless are also charged rent on any Day labor halls are this nation’s dirty little safety equipment (goggles, secret. Recently, the press has been filled with gloves, hardhats) they use, even if stories exploring the labor and exploitation of day this equipment is provided by the labor workers in such places as Los Angeles and contractor. At 4:00pm they clock New York. Often these discussions center around out and wait for the labor hall the issues of undocumented workers, but more civil transportation to pick them up. rights and labor groups have been focusing their attention on the fact that day laborers perform some They are not reimbursed for this time. Between 5:30 and 6:00pm, of the hardest, dirtiest work in this country for very the workers arrive back at the little pay and with almost none of the protections labor hall. If they are paid daily, that people with regular work enjoy. Across the they may wait several hours for country, groups supporting day labor workers, such their check. as the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, If at any time in this (NDLON) have begun giving a glimmer of hope to process the worker complains, he this invisible section of the workforce. or she may be blacklisted and will In Cincinnati, an estimated 500-600 men not be hired again. There is no and women work at these labor halls each day. Day labor halls are usually located on major roads in grievance procedure for those who are blacklisted; they are poorer neighborhoods such as Over-the-Rhine. On simply never sent out again. The the surface, day labor halls seem fair enough: you next day, they wake up and start show up, they send you out to work, you get paid all over again. 7 days a week, the same day. However the devil is in the detail, people are working 12-14 hour and many labor halls violate both labor laws and days, and ending up with just human rights. enough in their pockets to keep To understand labor halls, it is helpful to them in poverty. It’s no wonder follow a day laborer through his or her day. They wake up at 4:00am and head to work. According to that the labor halls, when they find themselves short of workers, swing by local a 2001 study, Homeless in Cincinnati, an estimated shelters to recruit. 60% of homeless individuals work, often at day Another way to understand day labor is to labor halls; this means that a disproportionate talk directly to the people who work it. Derrick has amount of these workers wake up at a shelter or been working day labor for 3 or 4 years while he under a bridge, forgoing both sleep and breakfast to stays at the Drop Inn Center. He cleans the find work. Around 4:30am they arrive at the labor stadiums after the games, unloads trucks and sorts hall and wait for it to open. At 5:00am, employees garbage. His average day starts at 4 a.m. and goes show up to open the labor hall. Workers add their until 8p.m., when he is name to a list and wait in As a laborer for a temporary labor dropped off back at the the hall. These halls pool, you have certain rights; shelter with between $25 rarely provide bathrooms and $40 in his pocket. for workers, and if they You have the right to be paid a fair Thomas works do, they tend to be filthy wage; full time as a and harbor criminal maintenance manager at activity. At 6:30am, those McDonalds, but has who have shown up early You have a right to a safe workplace; worked day labor for 25 enough are sent out to You have a right not to be years to supplement his available jobs. At this discriminated against; income and keep from point, favoritism is becoming homeless. routinely shown to people You have a right to overtime, if you Thomas keeps a little who are known and liked qualify; notebook with him in by the dispatcher. Even which he interviews his more troubling, workers You have a right to be paid on time; fellow workers and are often selected solely chronicles the injustices based on race or gender. You have a right to workers they face, such as being At 7:00am, the compensation if you are injured on charged for workers arrive at the the job. transportation that never workplace on the arrives to pick them up. substandard bus If you need help in getting what you As he puts it, “if you pay transportation mandated have a right to call John Lavelle at for transportation daily by the labor hall (for 421-7803, ext 16. for a year, that’s a down which the workers are payment for a car. If you charged $6.00 - $7.00, a pay it for 5 years, why, you’ve bought a car!” full hour of wages). They then wait until 8:00am to Further, most labor halls keep over 50% of the pay clock in. They are not paid for any of this time, yet they are required to be there. At 8:00am, they clock offered by the contractors, meaning that Thomas receives half of the money for his labor, and the in and begin work. Contracts vary from industrial work to shipping to picking through trash at a landfill labor hall receives the other half. Randy had a good job with GM Motors to cleaning the baseball stadium after a Red’s game.
from 1977 until 1990, when his job was shipped out of the country and he was downsized. Randy’s been working day labor ever since. A certified welder, he’s worked on skyscrapers with workers who made $25 per hour for the same work for which he was paid $6.50 an hour. Unfortunately, Randy can’t work anymore since he was run over by a forklift at a day labor job site and his leg is failing to heal properly. He is currently trying to get disability and find an apartment. A new collaboration of workers and faith and justice groups has formed called the Day Labor Organizing Project (DLOP). This group meets every Wednesday at 9:00am at Our Daily Bread, a local soup kitchen that many day laborers frequent. According to Don Sherman, director of the Cincinnati Interfaith Worker’s Center, this group has three goals, “to educate the public about the abuses of day labors, to pass legislation so that day labor workers are protected by labor laws, and to create a non-profit labor hall so that the money earned by workers goes directly to the workers.” In May, DLOP released its report card of local day labor halls. Volunteers interviewed over 100 day labor workers and asked them to rate the labor halls on issues such as wait times for work, failure to pay, lack of restrooms, unsafe transportation, unnecessary and superfluous fees, wrongful termination, harassment, refusal of permanent employment, and racial discrimination. The highest rating went to CinTemp, who received a C. The lowest rating went to Labor Solutions, who received a D-. “On top of low wages and long hours, day laborers are often subject to poor working conditions, harassment by labor hall staff members, and termination at any time for any reason,” states Don Sherman. “This is an unregulated industry that exploits the most vulnerable of populations.”
Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless