Starting July 5, San Mateo County will take a new, carrot-and-stick approach to the problem of workers who hang out along Fifth Avenue, near El Camino Real and Middlefield Road in North Fair Oaks, desperately hoping to catch a day job from employers driving by.
For the carrot, the Board of Supervisors March 9 unanimously approved a contract with the Multicultural Institute of Berkeley to provide an outreach program that will work with day workers, merchants, the community, and employers to resolve problems. The $288,000 contract will run from July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2008.
“It takes a community to make this work; it doesn’t work to herd people in a room,” said Madelyn Martin of the county’s Human Services Agency. “We need to change the culture.”
For the stick, the board unanimously adopted two ordinances to control problems posed by the day workers:
• One forbids soliciting on public roadways because of safety hazards as workers run into the street or employers stop to negotiate.
• The other gives merchants added ability to control trespassing on their private property.
The problems of day workers hanging around on street corners waiting for jobs has been building for several years in the unincorporated area between Redwood City and Atherton. In April 2005, the Key Market closed, partly because the day workers made customers uncomfortable and hurt business.
In May 2005, the county opened a Day Worker Center on Middlefield Road to try and lure the workers off the street. The center, run by El Concilio of San Mateo County, had attracted about a third of the day workers last September, when the county supervisors extended its contract until June 30. The rest still hung out on the street.
That center will close to make way for the new day worker program.
Meanwhile, a Chavez Supermarket will open in June at the site of the old Key Market on Fifth Avenue by El Camino Real. There are already several Chavez markets in Redwood City, including one at 3282 Middlefield Road, near Garfield School and Saint Anthony’s Padua Dining Room.
New approach
Staff workers from the Multicultural Institute will work with day workers on the street, where they gather. Besides helping the workers organize and connect with jobs, they will mentor them and refer them to social services, such as training, education and health care. They will also work with employers, local businesses and neighbors.“We are interested in serving the marginalized community,” said Father Rigoberto Calocarivas, commonly called “Father Rigo,” who founded the institute in 1991.
The Multicultural Institute, which operates a day worker program in Berkeley, was selected from three applicants to run the county’s program.
The institute will work with the county and local businesses to designate sites where workers can gather safely for pickup, without disturbing businesses, residents, shoppers and traffic.
Institute workers will also work directly with employers, according to the county staff report. Regular employers will be encouraged to hire workers through program staff by phone or e-mail, without coming to the hiring site.
The institute has a “Life Skills” program that it will bring to the local day workers, Father Rigo explained in a presentation to the board. Workers will get personal mentoring and help with job training, earning a GED in Spanish, or learning English.
Father Rigo promised to help organize the workers to hold out for a decent wage, and to educate employers that these people cannot be exploited. “No one is going to work for $5 or $8,” he said. “It is no longer acceptable to not pay them.”
Father Rigo was brimming with other ideas. He is arranging for weekly soccer games for the workers at Saint Anthony’s, and wants to help their families as well. “We treat the family as a unit,” he said.
Once he helps the men who hang out looking for drive-by day jobs, Father Rigo would like to help the women, who also do day work cleaning houses and tending children. “They’re totally invisible,” he said.
Bill Murphy, chair of the board for the Multicultural Institute, told the supervisors, “Father Rigo’s great strength is his ability to bring people together.”
And some teeth
Two civil-rights attorneys challenged the new ordinances to ban solicitation in public roadways, and help property owners in preventing trespassing. They cited a recent court case in Redondo Beach that overturned a similar ordinance.The ordinances will restrict peaceful behavior and further marginalize vulnerable population, charged Severa Keith of the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County. She also noted that the ordinances apply to all unincorporated areas, including the coast. “It applies to the entire county,” she said.
County Counsel Tom Casey said the laws are narrowly crafted and he believes they will hold up. The case in Redondo Beach prohibited workers from gathering on sidewalks; this one applies only to public roadways, he said.
The board stood by the ordinances. “It’s really about rights and responsibilities,” said Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson. “Our intent is to ensure that everyone is respectful. Our residents expect a safe and secure and clean environment.”
For more information, call the Multicultural Institute at 510-847-8714, or go to mionline.org.
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