IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD : Malibu: Coastal Colony’s Response to its Day-Worker Dilemma

Famous folk, fires and floods distinguish Malibu from other Southern Californian cities, but like many of its neighbors, the coastal city has been grappling with how to respond to the more than 100 laborers who daily gather on street corners and parking lots in search of work. It has been a time-consuming, difficult and sometimes rancorous process that one task force member working on the project likened to “doing calculus without knowing algebra.” The result was a ban on city-sponsored Malibu Labor Exchange Center. This approach seems to be working. According to Mona Loo, a 10-year Malibu resident and board member of the nonprofit group that runs the Labor Exchange. “The Malibu Times ran a story that said, ‘91-year-old woman busted for hiring day laborer.’ We all sort of cringed, but the result was that our work requests doubled.”

FOUR POINTS OF CONTENTION

Residents and business owners complain that day workers litter, drink liquor in public, frighten customers, and disrupt residential areas.

Law enforcement officials say that vehicles slowing and stopping to hire workers can create traffic and safety hazards.

Civil rights advocates say ordinances prohibiting day workers from congregating to solicit employment or prohibiting employers from picking up day laborers violate citizens’ rights to work and solicit for employment.

City officials say there’s no quick-fix, one-size-fits-all solution that will serve community interests and rights of residents, business owners and day workers because communities are, in effect, coping with the local impacts of national and international issues like immigration, high employment and homelessness.

HOW THEY GOT THERE

May 1990

Without community consensus or study of the day worker situation, nonprofit day worker advocacy organization opens a hiring center.

November 1990

Nearby residents claim that the number of workers at street corners hasn’t noticeably fallen. They also complain and L.A. County Department of Regional Planning officials agree that the house trailer used as the center’s office violates zoning laws.

March 1991

With little community support, the hiring center closes.

October 1991

City council forms Day Worker Task Force to study Malibu’s day labor situation.

December 1991

The task force recommends regulation of day labor employment by establishing an official hiring center in the city and passing an ordinance to prohibit employers from hiring laborers at unauthorized sites.

July 1992

The city passes an ordinance placing limits on hiring laborers.

August 31, 1993

The Malibu Labor Exchange Center opens with support from city and county officials. The city arranges annual funding of $35,000.

November 2-3, 1993

Residents of the city’s exclusive Villa Costera area credit eight day laborers for working, at great personal risk, throughout the day and night to help save homes during the killer fire. They worked at great personal risk, without being asked and for no pay.

Today

The Labor Exchange Center report that day laborer congregation has decreased at three of the four sites where the workers typically gather. More than 30 workers report to the center each day; about 20 work requests are made daily.

SOME CHOICES CITIES MAKE

Ways that local governments respond to the presence of day workers in their communities: Direct police to move day workers from sites where residents or businesses have complained, and increase enforcement of unlawful behaviors like illegal turns, blocking driveways, littering and drunkenness;

Prohibit laborers from congregating to solicit work and prohibit employers from soliciting and picking up day laborers in certain areas;

Organize hiring halls for workers and educate employers and workers about INS regulations, workers’ rights and community standards.

Source: Frank Benest, manager of Orange County city of Brea & Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Orange County Human Relations Commission, “Confronting the Day Worker Dilemma,” Western City Magazine.

MALIBU’S LABOR EXCHANGE CENTER was established from recommendations by a committee representing resident, business, day worker, law enforcement and municipal points of view. The center is managed by two paid employees and volunteers. It is located near a public bus line, away from residential and business areas. The center provides day laborers with English instruction, access to public restrooms, telephones and a noon meal. A lottery is used to match day workers with employers.