WORKERS JUSTICE PROJECT | PROYECTO DE JUSTICIA LABORAL
Brooklyn, NY – On Saturday, November 17, 2012, day laborers from the Bay Parkway Community Job Center along with other local organizations will convene at the restaurant Tacos Dona Zita in Coney Island, located at 1221 Bowery Street Brooklyn, NY 11224 at 11AM to help clean up homes and small businesses in and around Coney Island.
The job center was completely ripped up and moved blocks away by the surges of water that swept through Bensonhurst during Hurricane Sandy. Despite losing their own home, the Bay Parkway day laborers are committed to rebuilding their own center as well as their communities by working in solidarity with their neighbors. “The same way families in Coney Island lost their homes and our neighbors had to close down their businesses, we had to experience the same in Bay Parkway,” said Jose Gonzalez, day laborer and member of the Bay Parkway Community job Center.
Day Laborers have found strength in their unity. “These are times where we all need each other. No matter if you own a business or if you work for one,” said Camilo Hernandez, day laborer and member of the Bay Parkway Community job Center. Camilo Hernandez has been one of the day laborers that has joined the Councilman Dominic Recchia’s relief effort every other weekend in the Coney Island area helping distribute needed supplies to many low-income families.
The Bay Parkway Community Job Center has been an integral part of the fabric of the local economy for over 12 years. The Community Job Center provides a crucial link between affected homeowners and business owners and local workers. Since day laborers already work in construction, remodeling, carpentry, painting and cleanup, their skills are in great demand to reconstruction of highly impacted areas such as Coney Island, Seagate, Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Gerriten Beach and among others. Without their center, day laborers will be vulnerable to abuse, non-payment of wages, serious injury and even death.
On Saturday, November 17, 2012, Day Laborers from the Bay Parkway Community Job Center will gather at the Restaurant Tacos Dona Zita in Coney Island, located at 1221 Bowery Street Brooklyn, NY11224 at 11:00 AM to help perform much of the heavy lifting in Coney Island.
WORKERS JUSTICE PROJECT
The Worker’s Justice Project (WJP) was founded to address the racial and economic disparity that day laborers face by building collective power to win institutional change that advances economic, racial, and workplace justice. The WJP also oversees the management of the Bay Parkway Community Job Center and is committed empower female day laborers to change the conditions that lead to exploitation, to strengthen the grassroots base of the labor movement, and to create grassroots economic alternatives
Ligia Guallpa
Director
Worker’s Justice Project | Proyecto Justicia Laboral
