Liberty Hill

Low-Wage Workers Most Likely to Be Victimized in L.A.

2010-01-06T11:24:24-08:00

That's what a new study from UCLA reports. According to the report certain sectors of the local economy have embraced business strategies that involve widespread violation of labor laws. This is why Liberty Hill has invested in supporting restaurant workers in Koreatown, garment workers downtown, day laborers throughout L.A. County. These workers are non-unionized and subject to frequent violation of labor laws. Read the report.

Day Laborers at a job site in Hollywood. They were raffling a bicycle to raise funds to help train day laborers for licensing exams.

Taxi Drivers Could Zoom Forward. Or Not.

2010-01-04T17:41:53-08:00

As many friends of Liberty Hill know, L.A. Taxi drivers work long hours for little money, without benefits. There's a chance to change all that, thanks to the good work of our grantee partner, L.A. Taxi Workers Alliance.

Here's the latest news:

L.A. World Airports is recommending that ATS, a nonprofit operated by the taxi companies, receive a 5-year concession agreement from the City -- despite a City Controller audit in Jan. 2007 that found ATS was mismanaging monies collected from passengers at LAX.

Not only that, ATS abused its employees and taxi workers, failing to report workers comp injuries and failing to provide even clean drinking water or clean bathrooms for drivers.

What is The Airport Commission doing granting another 5 year contract to a company that defrauded the traveling public and the City, and that has an extremely dismal record when it comes to workers’ rights?

L.A. Taxi Workers Alliance is mobilizing to strongly oppose LAX official’s recommendation for the Airport Commission to approve a 5-year concession agreement for ATS at the commission meeting on Monday, Jan. 11 at 1:30 p.m. when the commission will be voting on the contract.

Get involved! Email the relevant decisionmakers! Click for a sample letter.

Dear Passenger,

On January 11, 2010, the L.A. Board of Airport Commissioners will vote on whether to raise the taxicab passenger surcharge at LAX from $2.50 per trip to $4.30 per trip. Airport officials propose that most of this surcharge – money paid by YOU the passenger – go to Authorized Taxicab Supervision (“ATS”), a company with a history of corrupt practices that oversees taxi operations at LAX.

A 2007 City Controller audit found that ATS misappropriated money collected from passengers. For example, ATS paid cab company managers thousands of dollars in cash without any documentation – all money coming from the surcharge paid by the traveling public.

Yet, the Airport wants to give ATS a new 5-year contract and more of YOUR money although other companies submitted bids too.

You can make a difference with a couple of phone calls now!

Call Alan Rothenberg, President of the L.A. Airport Commission at:
(424) 646-6263 or email at laxboac@lawa.org

Also Call Janice Hahn, L.A. City Council Member and Chairperson of the City Council Tourism Committee at: (213) 473-7015 or email at janice.hahn@lacity.org

And say:

"I’m a taxicab passenger at LAX and I OPPOSE the concession contract to ATS with its history of misappropriating passengers’ money. Give the contract to a good company that is NOT CORRUPT. I ALSO OPPOSE raising the taxi charge at the airport to $4.30 – that’s too much!”

Thrown Off The LAX Lot!

2009-12-29T17:18:14-08:00

Liberty Hill volunteer researcher Rebecca Rona and I went down to the LAX holding lot today. It’s where cabs sit waiting to be admitted to LAX to pick up passengers. About 200 cabs were there.

We made the trip because we were impressed with Liberty Hill’s grantee partner LATWA – the L.A. Taxi Worker Alliance – and its lead organizer, Sentanyahu Silassie, a 58-year-old Ethiopian immigrant who drove a cab in L.A. for 18 years before getting fired for criticizing the taxi cooperative that sets the rules for drivers. (The cooperative has the right to fire drivers at will. And does.)

Liberty Hill has funded LATWA’s organizing for the last several years. There are several thousand taxi drivers in L.A. They all work under the self-serving rules set by ATS, a "nonprofit" that manages the holding lot on behalf of cab companies. ATS operates under a city contract, but city supervision has been lax and as a consequence, ATS has operated for more than 20 years for the benefit of cab companies not the drivers. In Jan 2007 Controller Chick released an audit of ATS and found all kinds of monkey business including the fact that ATS had been paying $27,000 annually to the cab companies’ presidents in cash?!*

This isn't just a rip-off of drivers. Every penny of revenue that ATS raises comes from the $2.50 surcharge collected from the traveling public.

Here are some photos we took on the lot. We didn’t get too many because a few minutes after our arrival an ATS representative threw us off the lot. Guess they’re not too eager for public exposure!

Another Local Car Wash Targeted for Poverty Wages

2009-12-28T10:01:14-08:00

Clean Car Wash Campaign, a Liberty Hill grantee partner, picketed for better treatment Santa Palm Car Wash on Santa Monica Boulevard early last week. Read how car wash workers are organizing for better wages and working conditions.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back on LGBT Rights

2009-12-22T17:07:32-08:00

At the same time that Mexico (Mexico?!*) has moved to legalize gay marriage, the new U.S. immigration reform proposal leaves gay and lesbian immigrants out of the picture. The Roll Call's report is available to subscribers only. I've reposted it here.

Immigration Bill Leaves Out Gays
Move Fuels Friction Among Democrats
By Jennifer Bendery
Dec. 21, 2009

House proponents of comprehensive immigration reform unveiled an ambitious proposal last week with much fanfare, but lost in the buzz was that their bill isn't entirely comprehensive: They intentionally left out protections for gay and lesbian immigrants.

A bill introduced earlier this year by Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) dealing with family reunification policies for immigrants was completely rolled into the reform package, except for its provisions allowing same-sex partners of permanent residents to qualify for a visa. The decision behind the little-noted change sparked friction between liberals hoping to kick off debate with an all-inclusive bill and Hispanic leaders more focused on keeping religious leaders on board with the plan.

" All the evangelists, Catholics and churches that are part of this were whacking out " over the gay and lesbian provisions, said a Democratic lawmaker familiar with negotiations on the bill.

The lawmaker said Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who has led the House effort on comprehensive immigration reform, initially "didn't want to deal with it. At all. " Then he tried to work out a " stupid " compromise whereby the same-sex partner provisions would be in the bill but they wouldn 't take effect for five or six years, said this Member.

But some liberals argued the idea was â "really bad idea" since Hispanic lawmakers have strongly opposed an effort by the Senate to impose a similar five-year waiting period for immigrants to receive benefits under health care reform, said the lawmaker. A multiyear delay for same-sex partners would likely result in "more criticism for this stupid deal than for leaving it out, " said the House Democrat.

The decision was finally made to offer an amendment to the bill when it comes before the Judiciary Committee in February.
Gutierrez denied that he wanted to keep gay and lesbian language out of his bill. " That 's just not true, " he said, pointing to his long-standing record of supporting the gay community. The real issue, he said, is that same-sex partner matters have not come up in past immigration reform debates and people are still figuring out how to bring the two camps together.

" There has never been a serious, in-depth discussion between the gay and lesbian community and the immigrant community. It 's never existed, " Gutierrez said. "It's a new conversation, but not one that I 'm fearful of. I welcome it. But you can ' t expect after nearly two decades of struggle for a new component to be quickly embraced. "

Suggesting that progress is already under way in uniting the two communities, Gutierrez pointed out that most Congressional Hispanic Caucus members are co-sponsors of legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, a top priority for the gay community.

" Remember, if 10 percent of the population is gay and there are 12 million illegal immigrants, I simply state: 1.2 million are going to have their legalization, " Gutierrez added. " The greatest increases in this country in hate are against gays and Latinos and immigrants. We have lots in common. "

The idea for reintroducing the same-sex provision with a committee amendment was hatched by Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), who downplayed frustrations that it wasn 't initially included in the bill. Polis is one of three openly gay Members.

" Same-sex partners is not an issue in immigration as long as we can repeal DOMA, " said Polis, who has been designated the point person on the issue.

But other gay lawmakers were not happy about the decision to leave the provision out of the immigration overhaul bill and not as optimistic about it being attached to the measure down the road.

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said she was " very frustrated " because she " wanted to see a bill that was comprehensive. But we deal with political reality here. " Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who earlier this year pronounced a DOMA repeal " dead " this Congress, predicted it will be â " very, very hard sell " to attach the same-sex provision to the immigration reform bill.

Baldwin last week drafted a letter to President Barack Obama and Democratic Congressional leaders urging their support to make same-sex partner protections part of immigration reform. She called on House colleagues to sign the letter by Friday; prior to that, she had already collected nearly three dozen signatures, including those of Frank, Polis and Gutierrez.

Key House supporters of immigration reform continue to reassure their ranks that the gay rights provision will end up in the bill. Some lawmakers said privately that the Conference of Catholic Bishops, a much-needed ally in the fight for immigration reform, has quietly agreed to support the amendment, even though the group opposed introducing the bill with the provision in it.

"Don 't worry about it. ... It will happen through the committee process, " said Honda, chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. " It's about strategy. It will be done. "

The decision to delay adding the same-sex provision not only appeases the Catholic bishops, but it also allows more time for CHC members to warm up to the issue. CHC members "don 't want to say no " to it being included in their No. 1 priority bill, Honda said. "They haven ' t said no. They know the issues are out there and they haven 't said no. "

Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), a CHC member, said he is comfortable with the provision but said the caucus hasn 't formally discussed it yet. "It's been brought up that somebody wanted to add it on. That 's the extent of it, " he said.

CHC founder Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas), who recently took over as the lead sponsor of the bill, added that some Hispanic lawmakers may be uneasy with the same-sex provision for cultural reasons, and they may need more time to weigh it. "They feel a little uncomfortable. I think that 's what it is, to be honest with you, " he said.