Chester – It’s 8 a.m., and the driver of the minivan, a silver-haired, bespectacled man with darting eyes, a nervous Chasidic driver is waiting for a “regular,” a homeless men staying at Camp La Guardia someone he picks up daily for soliciting work because the worker is reliable.
The scene plays out daily, about 20 or 30 men from the Camp La Guardia shelter queue up for work every day as drivers, mostly from Kiryas Yoel, look for cheap, unregulated labor. At an average $6 to $8 an hour, they are doing mostly odd jobs, most work about eight to 12 hours a day at synagogues, construction sites and distribution warehouses in Kiryas Joel and other towns.
And the police can’t stop them, but the police – responding to complaints from nearby residents – have been known to ticket their potential employers for obstructing traffic.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email