Stephen Franklin, the former labor beat reporter for the Chicago Tribune (in the good, old days when the Trib had a labor beat), has a really good piece at the American Prospect on the perils of day labor workers. These workers are often in dangerous, physical jobs and are sometimes undocumented immigrants, making it unlikely they will exercise their workplace safety protections — or have employers who will respect those protections.

What’s new is that things have gotten more bleak during the recession: employers are simply not paying some day laborers, and the workers are too desperate to do anything but keep waiting for their paycheck. Franklin proposes a series of steps the federal government can take, and maybe the most compelling one is to establish stronger ties with day labor worker centers.  The exploitation of day laborers is an issue that first needs visibility.

The push for comprehensive immigration reform often talks about getting workers “out of the shadows.” But with the focus on health care, financial regulatory reform and energy security, Congress and the Obama administration will prioritize immigration policy around mid-2010 — at the earliest (and that’s assuming Congress takes up anything complex right before the midterm elections). Absent blockbuster legislation, the labor department can hire more investigators to inspect both workers sites and day labor employment agencies. At this point, in Chicago at least, the business of day labor is more akin to illegal enterprise like  prostitution or drug dealing — prospective workers huddled at a street corner or parking lot at 6 in the morning, waiting for a contractor to approach them.

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