Data Bank Takes On Day-Laborer Problems

Michael MacBeane of Santa Clarita says he may have found a way to get day laborers off the streets and into regular jobs.

And all it will take, MacBeane says, is his personal computer, some volunteers and some willing employers.

On Thursday morning MacBeane, 23, unveiled plans for a computerized job bank to match employers with the scores of Latino laborers who gather at street corners along San Fernando Road in Newhall each morning in search of a day’s work. Merchants up and down the street have complained in recent months that large crowds of workers scare off customers and create a public nuisance.

MacBeane’s idea is simple: Workers will enter their names in the job bank, indicating what kind of work they can handle. When an employer needs workers, the job bank will pass on the name of laborers and where they can be reached. If the workers don’t have telephones, the job bank will pass on messages.

“They won’t have to sit on the street anymore,” MacBeane said as he showed off the bilingual computer program at The Mail Handler, a postal outlet MacBeane owns along San Fernando Road.

MacBeane said he has enlisted the aid of Centro de Amor, a Latino religious organization down the street, which will serve as headquarters for the program. MacBeane has notified about 65 restaurants and construction companies that the service is available and, beginning today, volunteers will help enter information into the computer and distribute flyers announcing the new job bank.

MacBeane said he launched the free program because he is concerned about the impact the laborers are having on businesses, including his own, along San Fernando Road. MacBeane said the job bank is a practical solution to a frustrating problem. It also would treat the laborers with dignity.

“They’re there for employment,” he said in their defense. “They’re not there to loiter.”

Jamie Sweezer, a legal clerk who helped MacBeane organize the job bank, said some merchants complain about the laborers but do nothing constructive to solve the problem. “Their solution is to call the police,” Sweezer said.

MacBeane said he does not condone the hiring of undocumented workers but said he will not ask the laborers for proof of citizenship. That’s a matter for the employers, not the job bank, he said.

Many Santa Clarita Valley residents mistakenly believe that all of the workers are in the United States illegally, he added. “That is not the case,” he said.

MacBeane said he hopes to win the backing of the Santa Clarita City Council, which has asked its staff to develop possible solutions to the day-laborer problem. The council is scheduled to hear staff proposals on the issue this month.

Some Southern California cities have created hiring programs for day laborers, but such an effort by a private citizen is virtually unheard of, said social workers familiar with the laborers.

“It sounds like one of these unique individuals who says, ‘Enough of this. I’m going to do something,’ ” said Leo Guerra, who specializes in day-laborer issues for Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, an immigrant rights group in North Hollywood.

“I have to hand it to him,” said Alfredo Vasquez, a Los Angeles County community worker in Newhall. “There is no other merchant in the area offering something like that.”

A few laborers in Newhall seemed skeptical when told of the new job bank Thursday.

When asked if they would use the service, they shrugged their shoulders and one gave a noncommittal “maybe.”