9/17: On Wednesday, 9/18, SF Day Laborers will picket in front of Volunteers Of America’s (VOA) Oakland Office to oppose the agency’s application to administer the SF Day Labor Program. Three weeks ago, a delegation of SF community organizations held a meeting with VOA President John Bailey to inform him of the contentious political context in which Mayor Willie Brown placed Day Labor Program up for public bid. A variety of community leaders explained that the transfer of services away from La Raza Centro Legal would be extremely disruptive to Day Laborer organizing. Despite these grave concerns, Bailey and VOA have decided to pursue their application. “We don’t want VOA running our Day Labor Program because in Oakland, they support the police moving workers off the public sidewalks and we don’t want that here. No one will support our rights as human beings as La Raza has,” says day laborer Hector Valdez. On 9/9, approximately 250 day laborers and supporters, joined by visiting workers from other West Coast cities, marched to city hall in a related protest. Background