Oakland Rally defends laborer center

Rally defends laborer center
Councilmember denounces group that set up protest of ordinance
By Matthew Green, CORRESPONDENT

OAKLAND -- About 75 people rallied Monday outside Centro Legal De La Raza's Fruitvale office to protest the organization's actions and voice support for Oakland's Day Laborer Center.

Speakers accused Patricia Loya, director of Centro Legal, of dividing the community over the issue of day laborers, who gather daily on East Oakland's streets in search of work.

"Why should we interpret the day laborers' program as negative when it is supported by the community?" said Cuauhtemoc Jimenez, president of a Hispanic association representing 200 local businesses.

Organized by a committee of residents and business and community leaders, the rally was in response to a meeting last week of day laborers, which Centro Legal helped organize.

That meeting was a show of direct opposition to the city's two-year-old anti-solicitation ordinance, which threatens contractors with $1,000 fines for picking up workers off the street.

Workers claim the measure has made it harder for them to earn a living.

City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (San Antonio-Fruitvale), who sponsored the ordinance and helped organize Monday's rally, accused Loya of deceiving workers for her own political advantage.

He defended the Day Laborer Center, which he helped start four years ago.

"Centro Legal has somehow tried to attack Volunteers of America (which runs the center)," De La Fuente told the crowd.

"We know that we need to improve, but I can tell you that Centro Legal has done more damage than any other Hispanic organization in the community. ... If you're going to use these tactics, you better leave town because we're not going to work with you."

Located in a Fruitvale warehouse, the center was formed to move day laborers off the streets by helping them find work in a centralized location. It was started largely in response to concerns of local residents and business owners who complained that the laborers were urinating on their lawns, harassing passers-by and scaring away customers.

But laborers complain that the center does not have enough resources to provide for all of them and that the city's ordinances are threatening their livelihoods.

Emilia Otero, the Day Laborer Center's program manager, denied that.

"It's misinformation that Centro Legal has been giving to people," she said, while the crowd stood outside Centro Legal's office chanting, "Open the door."

She said the center also provides a number of social services, including a medical clinic, and last June placed 186 laborers in permanent jobs.