People rallied throughout the country for the proposed introduction of legislation that ensures wage and health protections for day laborers. The move comes days after the house of a day-laborer in Farmingville, NY was firebombed.

Day laborers are rallying throughout the country for the proposed introduction of landmark legislation for temporary laborers in Congress.

The Day Labor Fairness and Protection Act proposed by Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) ensures wage and health protections for temporary laborers.

Day laborers are often exploited by their employers who place them under hazardous health conditions and impose illegal wage reductions on them.

The call for the legislation comes days after the house of a day-laborer in Farmingville, NY was firebombed July 5.

Officials have ruled the firebomb was likely a hate crime. The house, which is in the heart of the day labor community, is next to the former home of two Mexican day laborers who were brutally beaten in 2000.

Neighboring communities in Nassau County have day-laborer hiring sites but the same idea has faced violent opposition in Farmingville where the firebomb and beatings occurred.

• Carlos Canales, organizer of Day Laborers with the Workplace Project in Long Island, New York.