Rafael Gallegos, the center’s assistant director and a doctoral student at UNC-Chapel Hill, specifically mentioned the workers who gather on the corner of Jones Ferry Road and Davie Road in Carrboro.
Gallegos said the day laborers do not always get paid for their work. He said he has spoken with people who have worked over a month without being paid.
“They’re not able to pay for rent or provide food to their family,” Gallegos said. “They ask me, ‘am I not a human being?’”
In December, Hannah Choe asked the Board to consider criminalizing wage theft. Alderman Jacquie Gist wanted more information, specifically how many people were affected.
Gallegos brought data from a 2006 UCLA sponsored National Day Labor Study. According to the report, 67 percent of day laborers in the South did not know where to report workplace abuses.
“Because there is no way to enforce this locally…a lot of the abuses continue,” he said.
Alderman Gist seemed receptive to local action. “I think that this Board is very much behind what you’re trying to do,” she said.
The Board decided to refer the matter to town staff. Town attorney Mike Brough is out of town, but fellow attorney Robert Hornik, who was sitting in, said they would have to evaluate the town’s authority to step in.
Federal and state “statues don’t criminalize wage theft,” Hornik said. “There are all kinds of civil penalties available.”
Comments
Einstein
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 11:34 — marcoplosJohn - day labor, not a steady job, day-to-day - think about it...
You don't have to be a genius
Thu, 01/21/2010 - 17:54 — elvisboy77Not to hop in the truck day after day with some guy who is not paying you.
Umm.duh
Wed, 01/20/2010 - 21:49 — elvisboy77If I worked for someone and they failed to pay me, then I would go work for someone else.
Is that too simple a concept for Carrboro? Granted, it is not as sexy as making some proclamation of "wage theft".
Give me a break. This is pretty silly.