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LOCAL News :: Labor

Today: Vigil to Support Day Laborers

The National Day Labor Network, Amor de Dios United Methodist Church and the Latino Union of Chicago are holding a prayer vigil and press conference today, January 27, at 6:30pm at Amor de Dios United Methodist Church at at 2356 South Sawyer to demand a stop to the hate crimes against day laborers and demand justice for workers around the world.
For Immediate Release

Contact: Rev. Jose Landaverde cell 773-968-4258, church 773-521-3737
Annalia Rodriguez Cell 773-259-4826

The National Day Labor Network, Amor de Dios United Methodist Church and the Latino Union of Chicago are holding a prayer vigil and press conference on Thursday January 27, 2005 at 6:30pm at Amor de Dios United Methodist Church located at 2356 South Sawyer avenue in Chicago. The vigil is part of a national effort to demand a stop to the hate crimes against day laborers and call for justice for workers around the world. We invite all the press and supporters to be present.

Around the nation day laborers have been victims of abuse and hate crimes. For example in Jacksonville, Florida two day laborers lie dead after 27 robberies and attacks in the last three months of 2004. In Canton, Georgia high school students offered day laborers work, drove them away from the corner, cruelly beat them, and robbed them of their salaries. In the past, in Cicero, Illinois undercover police have harassed and abused workers. These day laborers have been denied their salary after days or weeks of working and with no legal support or guidance they do not know who to turn to for help.

Day laborers are the most vulnerable group in the work force because they are exposed to all type of abuses and neglect form officials and authorities. Day laborers congregate outside of Home Depot, McDonald and other places where they can be picked up and offered work by contractors. They stand out in the streets or parking lots enduring the elements waiting for work so that they can sustain their families. In Cicero day laborers are organizing themselves and demanding that the Home Depot in that town allow them to have a closed space where they can wait for work, a space that will serve for training purposes, where they can offer classes, legal advise and other necessary services.

Day laborers and supporters will unite in solidarity in a national prayer vigil for worker rights all around the country at the same time to remember those workers who have been victims of crime or abuse. The prayer vigil is a national event sponsored by the National Day Laborer Network in Los Angeles, Institute of Popular Education of Southern California, Coalition for Humane Immigrants Rights in Los Angeles, the Central American Resource Center, the Pomona Employment Opportunity Center and the Malibu Community Labor Exchange.

Come support worker rights!

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