Southwest Center for Economic Integrity

Day Labor

The Center honored day labor activists (above)
for their courage and leadership
during the 2003 legislative session. Pictured are Mark Stroud,
Karin Uhlich (Executive Director), Mozell Owens, and David Lankford.

The Southwest Center for Economic Integrity, in collaboration with the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness, works to address exploitative and unfair practices in the day labor sector. Many marginalized workers engage in day labor or brokered labor arrangements because it is their best, and sometimes only, option for securing income.

The day labor industry often detrimentally impacts homeless and working poor people by:

Paying minimum (often sub-minimum) wages
Expecting pre-dawn reporting with long unpaid waiting periods before dispatch
Providing only sporadic assignments
Leading to high injury rates, though rarely claiming workers compensation to cover workers
Imposing charges for gloves, safety gear, transportation and check-cashing

To address these concerns, SCEI jointly facilitates the Day Labor, Incorporated project with the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness and other partners in the southwest region. Day Labor, Incorporated aims to improve working conditions for day laborers, particularly those whose work is "brokered" through for-profit day labor companies. We pursue those improvements through a variety of strategies:

monitoring and advocating enforcement of existing laws and regulations
developing, supporting, networking alternative hiring hall and worker education programs
raising the general public's awareness of problem practices in the day labor industry

SCEI worked with the Arizona Attorney General's office on its lawsuit filed against Labor Ready for wrongfully charging its workers check-cashing fees (which we believe violates a specific state law enacted in July 2000). According to the complaint filed, Labor Ready offers its employees the option of being paid in cash at the end of each workday, but then requires those employees to use a cash dispensing machine in order to receive cash. The fee charged is one dollar, and all amounts are rounded down to the nearest dollar, meaning employees must forfeit part of their pay. According to the suit, Labor Ready employed 10,844 temporary employees in Arizona in 2000 who worked in 4,804 customer businesses. Labor Ready workers were paid an average of $5.98 an hour. In one case cited in the suit, a worker paid $1.31 to cash her paycheck of $34.31, meaning the fee reduced her take-home pay by nearly 4%. The suit indicates that Labor Ready acknowledged having retained close to $200,000 from the take-home pay of its Arizona workers between January 1, 2000 and August 2001, but has not disclosed the amounts extracted since September of 2001.


Home ................................. About Us ................................. Publications ................................. Legislative Updates ................................. Get Involved ................................. What's New ................................. Worker's Corner ................................. Contact Us ................................ Site Map ................................. Initiatives: Gulf Coast Alternative Staffing Initiative Mortgage Lending Payday Lending Day Labor	Day Labor The Center honored day labor activists (above) for their courage and leadership during the 2003 legislative session. Pictured are Mark Stroud, Karin Uhlich (Executive Director), Mozell Owens, and David Lankford. The Southwest Center for Economic Integrity, in collaboration with the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness, works to address exploitative and unfair practices in the day labor sector. Many marginalized workers engage in day labor or brokered labor arrangements because it is their best, and sometimes only, option for securing income. The day labor industry often detrimentally impacts homeless and working poor people by: Paying minimum (often sub-minimum) wages Expecting pre-dawn reporting with long unpaid waiting periods before dispatch Providing only sporadic assignments Leading to high injury rates, though rarely claiming workers compensation to cover workers Imposing charges for gloves, safety gear, transportation and check-cashing To address these concerns, SCEI jointly facilitates the Day Labor, Incorporated project with the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness and other partners in the southwest region. Day Labor, Incorporated aims to improve working conditions for day laborers, particularly those whose work is "brokered" through for-profit day labor companies. We pursue those improvements through a variety of strategies: monitoring and advocating enforcement of existing laws and regulations developing, supporting, networking alternative hiring hall and worker education programs raising the general public's awareness of problem practices in the day labor industry SCEI worked with the Arizona Attorney General's office on its lawsuit filed against Labor Ready for wrongfully charging its workers check-cashing fees (which we believe violates a specific state law enacted in July 2000). According to the complaint filed, Labor Ready offers its employees the option of being paid in cash at the end of each workday, but then requires those employees to use a cash dispensing machine in order to receive cash. The fee charged is one dollar, and all amounts are rounded down to the nearest dollar, meaning employees must forfeit part of their pay. According to the suit, Labor Ready employed 10,844 temporary employees in Arizona in 2000 who worked in 4,804 customer businesses. Labor Ready workers were paid an average of $5.98 an hour. In one case cited in the suit, a worker paid $1.31 to cash her paycheck of $34.31, meaning the fee reduced her take-home pay by nearly 4%. The suit indicates that Labor Ready acknowledged having retained close to $200,000 from the take-home pay of its Arizona workers between January 1, 2000 and August 2001, but has not disclosed the amounts extracted since September of 2001.	Worker Resources New Mexico Day Labor Report NM Day Labor Act AZ Day Labor Act Day Laborer Photography Exhibit top
Home : About Us : Publications : Legislative Updates : Get Involved : What's New : Worker's Corner : Contact Us : Site Map © Copyright 2006 Southwest Center for Economic Integrity All Rights Reserved 21 E 15th Street P.O. Box 41972 Tucson, AZ 85717-1972 Web Site Made Possible by the generous support of The Wallace Foundation


	Promoting Ethical Profits and Responsible Commerce