Day Laborers Defend Their Right to Public Space in Court

By Michelle Chen, Working in These Times
March 6, 2013

Looking to hire someone for a little landscaping work or a construction job? There might be a local agency that can offer free security services to ensure that workers will work as hard as possible for as little as you’re willing to pay: the local police department.

Across the country, the undocumented day laborers who build, paint and pave many communities are locked into a low-wage regime that is de facto enforced by state power, which can threaten to round them up just for trying to work--in the name of protecting "public safety."

Arizona was once a model for this form of anti-worker bullying. But a federal court has just struck down one of the harshest provisions of the infamous anti-immigrant law known as SB 1070, which enabled police to arrest people for soliciting work in public. [...]

Read the full article:
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/14688/arizona_day_laborers_defend_their_right_to_public_space_in_court/