provide site for day laborers
Wheels are in motion to
provide site for day laborers
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
JERRY WOLKOWITZ staff The Rev. Andre McGuire is joined by Alejandro Abarca, a representative of the Comite de Trabajadores por el Progreso y Bienestar Social (Workers Committee for Progress and Social Well Being) at the Second Baptist Church, Freehold Borough, where church officials have proposed moving a day laborers hiring center.
The Rev. Andre McGuire of Freehold Borough may have just earned himself the title of "local hero" — at least to the town’s population of immigrant day laborers.
At a special meeting held Dec. 22 at the Second Baptist Church, Throck-morton Street, McGuire, who leads the congregation, announced plans to establish a temporary hiring area or "muster zone" for day laborers on church property.
The church’s plan was announced as borough officials prepared for the Jan. 1 closing of a site on Throckmorton Street (just west of the church) that has served as a muster zone for day laborers for several years.
In November, Mayor Michael Wilson and the Borough Council announced plans to close the muster zone. They said that over the course of several years the situation at the site has become unmanageable as workers and employers from the region have joined borough residents and local employers in making use of the hiring area. On some mornings, hundreds of men come to the area and wait to be picked up by employers.
McGuire showed an architectural rendering of the proposed muster zone behind the church. He also presented the rules and regulations that would accompany the proposed site. The rules include no smoking, drinking or drugs as well as no loud noises, profanity, loitering, littering or horn-honking.
McGuire said the Fellowship Hall next to the church would be the location where day workers would gather. He said he would need help to make this work. Staff would be required to help register each worker who came to the muster zone.
"This registration is only for church records," McGuire said.
The area will be open to workers from any town, according to McGuire, who said the registration requirement would allow officials to see the actual percentage of workers from other towns.
"If we have a large percentage of workers from one town, we will address that issue with that town’s officials," he said.
Bathroom facilities, food and beverages will be available to those waiting to be hired. The minister also talked of establishing classes for the workers to learn specific skills.
Noting that traffic in the residential neighborhood surrounding the church will be a concern, McGuire said vehicles coming to pick up workers would need to be supervised by a staff member.
McGuire’s muster zone plan calls for workers to gather in the parking lot behind the church property between 6-11 a.m. In order to keep traffic from disrupting the residential neighborhood behind the church, he suggested that contractors and other employers coming from Throckmorton Street make a right turn onto Avenue C, go into the parking lot, pick up workers, then exit the parking lot onto Avenue A and make a right onto Haley Street and back to Throckmorton Street.
"We want this to be a model muster zone for other towns to follow," McGuire said. "If the church doesn’t do this, I’m convinced no one else will."
He suggested to those in attendance at the Dec. 22 meeting that a partnership was necessary — an alliance among community organizations, the Freehold Clergy Association and local businesses. It is the businesses that are "profiting from the day laborers," he said.
Frank Freyre, a member of the borough’s Human Relations Committee, said, "The whole community owes a debt of thanks to the Second Baptist Church. We were on a collision course with conflict. I cannot emphasize the magnitude of Dr. McGuire’s leadership."
Freyre said the Human Relations Committee was given a task to work on months ago — to find a solution to the issue of the muster zone and the day laborers.
"It was a hard task," he said. "When the mayor issued the order to close the muster zone, it took us aback. It put us into a critical mode."
Freyre said he would work with Fatima Potente, director of the Hispanic Affairs Resource Center in the borough.
Cecilia Reynolds, another member of the Human Rela-tions Committee, said she was happy to learn that McGuire wants to allow the day laborers to come to the church.
"It’s only temporary and it will give us more time to work with the county and other towns," Reynolds said.
Reynolds said she believes every town should have its own muster zone and that every town should take care of its own day laborers who use the muster zone. She said she hopes borough officials will accept McGuire’s proposal.
"I know the town officials are concerned about this situation. They want to get a solution," she said.
Christian Estevez, the vice president of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey and a member of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO, was in attendance to offer his help in developing a model muster zone. He said he would show the group "how to take it from what it is now and bring it to what it should be."
"I have had much experience with labor relations and developing consortiums," he said, adding that he had set up many programs for state grants for the AFL-CIO. He said he will try to bring those with an interest in the situation together.
"The first thing is to establish a muster zone in a safe place," Estevez said. "A church is a safe place. We need to make sure the outcome of this plan is a positive one. The muster zone must adhere to a code of conduct and also allow workers to be treated in respectful way. No abuse must take place.
"This same issue is brewing all over the state," Estevez said. "Whatever happens here will help to determine how things play out in other places. We don’t want New Jersey to be seen as a place where people hurt one another."
"I don’t have all the answers," McGuire added. "I do know that we need a core committee to discuss the issue at hand and try to look for ways to make this situation better."
The Rev. Ricky Pierce, assistant pastor of the Second Baptist Church, said church officials would notify residents in the area about the plan.
He said he hoped their reaction to the proposal would be positive.
Pierce said he thought the proposed muster zone at the church would be much better that the original site because it will be more organized. He said so far, no one else had come forward to do anything about creating an alternative muster zone site so the church "decided to do something about the situation on their own."
"America can be proud of Freehold," Pierce said. "Little old Freehold."
In a related plan, McGuire said the church Fellowship Hall will also be the proposed site of a temporary overnight shelter that could be used by 20 to 25 men if they were homeless. Hours of the overnight shelter would be from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. An overnight stay would also include a meal.
Wilson said officials will study the proposals made by McGuire and determine if any zoning issues need to be addressed as a result of the plans.