Oakland business leaders defend anti-day laborer ordinance

Monday 7/21, Oakland: A small crowd of "business and community leaders" and a leading sell-out politician, City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, rallied on Monday against the Centro Legal, which has been organizing for day laborers' right to earn a living, and in support of the city's two-year-old anti-solicitation ordinance, which threatens contractors with $1,000 fines for picking up workers off the street.

The rally also supported the Oakland Day Laborer Center and Volunteers of America, the interdenominational Christian organization which receives city funding to run the center.

Speaking about the Day Laborer Center that he helped start 4 years ago, 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."

De La Fuente's rally and PR stunt was his response to a meeting he had last week with day laborers and the Centro Legal to discuss escalating police intimidation and repression, ticketing of day laborer employers, and the city's new labor zoning policies. At the meeting workers made five demands: 1.) stop the police repression, 2.) stop fining employers, 3.) repeal the anti-solicitation and anti-loitering ordinances, 4.) that the existing city-funded Day Labor Program respect their right to choose where to find work, and 5.) that the city respect their right to organize themselves.

Related coverage:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/07/1629734.php
http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/07/1627900.php
http://www.sfbg.com/37/28/news_labor.html