Defend Woodside day laborers

NEW YORK--In response to the October 21 arrest of 10 day laborers in Woodside, N.Y., the No Raids Committee (NRC) of Queens turned out 25 activists and day laborers to protest the raid. The action brought together individuals and members from the union-based New York Civic Participation Project, the United Food and Commercial Workers union, and the 69th Street Comité de Jornaleros.

To plan for our public response to the raid, the No Raids Committee held a meeting at which members of our committee and the Comité de Jornaleros produced a statement reading, in part:

This attack against the day laborers of Woodside is not an attack solely against immigrant families, but rather an attack against the community as whole. Because when a member of a community loses his or her rights, the community loses the capacity to develop as a collective...As a community, let's have a conversation. Let's not resort to animosity because there is much Hispanic immigrants can learn from other immigrant groups.

Over 100 copies were distributed at the same corner where the arrest took place. "This is a great success," Alberto, one of the organizers in both the Comite de Jornaleros and the NRC, said following the protest. "Now it is time for us to use this energy to organize, to build a movement of day laborers."

The October 20 arrests reportedly occurred because of neighbors' complaints about day laborers gathering at a street corner to look for work. As the economy continues to collapse, day laborers--who disproportionately work in construction jobs--are bearing the brunt of job losses, and are becoming a prime target of racist scapegoating.

Businesses, however, continue to profit from the cheap labor. According to a 2006 UCLA study, for example, day laborers regularly suffer employer abuse, with almost half of all day laborers experiencing at least one instance of wage theft, and 44 percent being denied food/water or breaks while on the job. More than two-thirds of injured day laborers have lost time from work.

Meanwhile, the NYPD's "Operation Impact," which is supposed to lower crime in areas such as Jackson Heights and Woodside by increasing police presence there, has functioned in practice to intimidate undocumented workers in the community.

Because of the response to the arrests, however, one day laborer said that a racist building owner already has a less antagonistic attitude towards their presence on this corner.

The NRC and day laborer committee are planning for next steps, including how to connect this struggle to others in the coming weeks and months.