Press Release

March 13, 2006
Eileen Shields, Public Information Officer: 415/554-2507

Community Forum on Day Laborers and Domestic Workers Seeks “Respect & Dignity”

City Looking to Improve Health and Safety of Immigrant Worker Population

San Francisco, CA—Although you may not have stopped to pick up a day laborer at any of the growing number of locations within the City or secured the services of an undocumented domestic worker to clean your house or care for your children, every community of San Francisco is impacted in some way by the presence of this significant immigrant population. Because of the nature of the work these individuals are required to perform, they become unwitting victims of abuse, whether it’s employers who cheat them out of wages or those who put them in dangerous situations where they become injured, either temporarily or permanently. The lives of many of this workforce community are filled with violence, poor health and depression.

Improving the lives, health and working conditions of immigrant workers are key topics to be tackled at the City’s first community forum: “Respect and Dignity: Working for the Health and Safety of the Day Laborer and Domestic Worker Community,” on March 29, at the Women’s Building, 3543 18th St., San Francisco, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

The event is part of a partnership called Jornaleros Unidos con el Pueblo (Day Laborers United with the Community), or “Unidos.” Unidos is a research project involving the San Francisco Department of Public Health, immigrant day laborers and community service organizations. The partnership is funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Services. The project’s goal is to improve the lives of the immigrant day laborer community, a group whose presence is known but unacknowledged by labor, health and safety regulators. Addressing these issues will not only improve the health of the workers but improve and sustain the health of the communities where they seek employment.

Respect and Dignity brings together workers, domestic workers, community embers, local elected officials and government agencies in a lively, interactive evening. The event will begin with a series of short video stories told by immigrant workers themselves. A number of them will be at the screening and available for interviews.

The second half of the community forum will feature an overview of the Unidos project work and its accomplishments, followed by a panel discussion of local city agency staff who will respond to a number of proposed solutions that can improve the health and safety of the workers.