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October 21, 2005 LATEST NEWS Day laborers create quandary at Texas Home Depot store Austin, Texas day laborers who gather in front of the St. John's Avenue Home Depot store looking for work asked the Austin City Council for help Thursday. "We urge Home Depot to recognize its corporate responsibility," says Victoria Gavito, staff attorney for the Central Texas Immigrant Worker Rights Center, who led a group of about 20 day laborers calling themselves the Day Labor Committee of Home Depot of St. John's. "They are a key player in the day-laborer phenomenon." The Home Depot store on St. John's in North Austin has become a problem for the home improvement retailer, day laborers, Austin police and others because of a recent corporate policy change that prevents soliciting on company premises, Gavito says. That has forced from the retailer's parking lot the 50 to 100 day laborers who show up there looking for work every morning, day-labor advocates say. The workers now filter out onto sidewalks or streets, impeding traffic and pedestrian flow in the area and endangering the workers, advocates say. A spokesman for Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) talked with the New York Times earlier this month about the problem at the St. John's store. "The existence of this issue is one that's beyond the Home Depot's control," spokesman David Sandor told the Times. "Like many businesses, we have a policy of nonsolicitation of our stores by individuals and organizations who aren't affiliated with our company. The reason for that is really simple -- our customers tell us they want a shopping experience that's easy and comfortable.'' Gavito says she hopes that by turning to the city for help, Home Depot might be persuaded to give something back to the day laborers in exchange for "millions of dollars in tax subsidies from our community." Home Depot received city incentives for its new 500-employee data center in Austin. David Lurie, the city's health and human services director, says the already spends $250,000 a year on one day-labor center near 51st Street and I-35, less than two miles from the St. John's Home Depot store. But the day-laborer advocates argue that there isn't enough work to go around at that location, sending them to the St. John's Home Depot. "We should potentially be looking at expanding capacity for organized day-labor systems," Lurie says. "The real key is not only getting laborers to access that [I-35] site, but also employers." The city probably will look at opening another day-labor site elsewhere to better serve the entire city, Lurie says. Austin Police Commander Sam Holt says police have received 90 complaints about the day laborers at the Home Depot store. "We're not out there just picking on people," Holt says.
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2005/10/17/daily53.html |
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