City’s day labor site to remain open

Laguna Beach’s Day Labor Site will not close on Monday as expected.

In a last-minute reprieve, day workers at the Laguna Beach Day Labor Site have agreed to pay more for the labor service in order to keep the center’s doors open, said David Peck, of the Cross Cultural Council, which oversees the center.

The workers will pay a nonrefundable $2 fee for the privilege of signing up for prospective day jobs. The previous fee was $1, which was refundable if the worker didn’t get a job, Peck said.

“We were short of cash because jobs are down and less money is coming in to the center,” Peck said. “We have a plan to keep it going, a new deal and new rules.”

Peck said the workers themselves came up with the idea of paying more to keep the center in operation. On most days, about 50 laborers sign up for the service and about half obtain jobs. That means the center has been taking in an average of $25 a day from the workers. Now the center will bring in about $100 a day on weekdays from worker fees, and that amount will likely double on Fridays and Saturdays, when some 75-100 laborers arrive at the site looking for work, Peck said.

“It is worth it to them [the workers] to make the sacrifice,” Peck said. “It’s a safe, efficient place to find work.”

Contractors and others pay $5 to the center for serving as a go-between for laborers and employers.

The site has been struggling due to the downturn in the economy, and in January it asked the Laguna Beach City Council for a financial transfusion, obtaining $7,000, Peck said. The city has generally given the center $20,000 a year in community grant money. Last year, the center asked for $30,000 but obtained only $20,000, Peck said.

The largest cost for the center is to pay for a staffer to be on site during its hours of operation, 6 a.m. to noon every day but Sunday.

If the center closed its doors, the property would still be the only place in Laguna Beach where laborers could solicit work. A city law prohibits the solicitation of employment anywhere else in the city.

Council members didn’t learn about the impending closure until after the April 1 meeting so they have not had an opportunity to discuss remedies.

“The news came as a shock,” Councilman Kelly Boyd said. “What surprised me was that we gave them extra money in January that was supposed to carry them through the fiscal year. I don’t see how we can provide more funds because of legal entanglements, but I expect we will discuss it at Tuesday’s meeting.”

The financial issue is the latest threat to the labor site, which has long been the target of anti-illegal immigration groups.

“We have weathered a lawsuit and demonstrations, but the bottom line is there are fewer jobs and we had to bite the bullet,” Peck said.

Barbara Diamond contributed to this story.