Thread: Ca-Bad economy hits day laborers hard

Bad economy hits day laborers hard
By Hilary Costa
East County Times
Article Last Updated: 07/13/2008 05:54:59 AM PDT


Click photo to enlargeDay laborers wait for work in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Brentwood, Calif. on...«12»It's not yet 8 a.m., and with the mercury hovering around 80 degrees, this July day in Brentwood is shaping up to be a scorcher.

Small groups of men huddle in the shade of trees that dot a Home Depot parking lot. One man reclines on the pavement, resting his head on a pillow of concrete curb. A few trail over to buy breakfasts of fresh tamales from the back of a red minivan.

Of the 40 men here seeking day labor jobs — "standing up," as they sometimes refer to the practice — only half will find work. And that's if it's a good day.

As the housing crisis continues to ripple through every level of the economy, many are feeling its effects. Day laborers have been particularly hard hit, as their mainstays — new home construction, residential remodels, painting and landscaping — fall victim to belt-tightening in an uncertain economy.

There simply isn't enough work right now.

"Every day, it's getting worse," said Jose, an Antioch resident, while standing outside the Brentwood Home Depot last week.

Jose, who asked that he be identified only by his first name, recently lost his full-time job of two years as an electrician's assistant after business dried up. He still works there one or two days a week, but the other days he joins the growing ranks of men around the Bay Area looking for work a few hours at a time.

Day laborers and nonprofit aid agencies across the Bay Area agree: More workers are
competing for fewer jobs.

Waiting game

In Berkeley, day laborers line Hearst Avenue between the railroad tracks and Sixth Street every day. Clustered on corners and sitting on curbs, the workers spend as many as 10 hours a day waiting for potential employers to come by and pick them up.

Lately, pickups have been rare.

"The truth is, there are no jobs," said Rudy Lara, program assistant for the Multicultural Institute, a Berkeley-based program that connects day laborers with jobs. He added that many of the 70 to 75 people who line the streets each day had legitimate construction and painting jobs but were laid off because of the downturn in the economy and the mortgage crisis.

At Pittsburg's North Park Plaza, workers swarm every approaching vehicle eager for a job. Melvin Hernandez said his weekly income of $300 to $400 has shrunk in recent months — and with two children and a baby on the way, he is in desperate need of more work.

"It's been a struggle for everybody," said Hernandez, who is from Honduras. He said he is trying to improve his English-speaking skills to make himself more employable.

Monument Futures, a day labor and education center on Concord's Monument Boulevard, typically places about 15 workers in jobs each day, and slightly more on weekends. That's a 20 percent or 30 percent decline in the past year, according to George Vallejo, the center's director of training programs.

Vallejo has seen a recent influx in the number of workers seeking help from the agency.

"The guys who were very comfortable on the streets, now they're coming here to see if we can help," he said.

Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, says the decline in consumer spending is hitting day laborers hard everywhere.

"People are not spending their disposable income to hire workers to come and clean their yards or do home-remodeling projects," Alvarado said. "When you go to a day labor corner, you can see the desperation of workers, particularly at the end of the month."

A January 2006 study by researchers at UCLA's Center for the Study of Urban Poverty and other universities estimated that on a given day in 2004 there were 117,600 day laborers throughout the United States, with the largest segment, 42 percent, living in the western United States. Forty-nine percent of day laborers are employed by homeowners and renters, and 43 percent are hired by construction contractors, according to the study.

Finding a job isn't the only obstacle day laborers face. Some men interviewed for this story said they are regularly cheated out of their wages after a day's work but cannot do anything about it. They lack recourse because of the anonymous nature of their work, and because many workers are undocumented and cannot go to the authorities.

The UCLA study called wage theft "a routine aspect of day-labor work."

Feeling the effects

The drop in demand for labor jobs isn't unique to the East Bay, where much of the past decade's residential construction and growth were centered. Workers across the nine-county Bay Area are feeling the effects.

The two major day labor centers in San Mateo County report a dearth of employment opportunities for day laborers and a worrying rise in workers' sense of desperation.

Many of the approximately 200 day laborers who visit the county's Day Labor Center in the North Fair Oaks section of Redwood City report that economic conditions are "worse than ever before," according to Paula Worby of the Multicultural Institute, which runs the center.

"Many more people are getting laid off by their regular employers, and those who have steady bosses for part-time work are getting less days of work per week," Worby said. "Both these situations lead to more people seeking work on the street."

More workers are coming to the city of San Mateo's Worker Resource Center to find employment, according to Steve Hargis-Bullen of Samaritan House, the local agency that oversees the center's operations.

However, the city's large pool of day laborers has found scant opportunity this spring and summer. The number of contractors that offer day labor jobs has plummeted 22 percent since last year, Hargis-Bullen said.

Vallejo, at Concord's Monument Futures, said the dismal climate has led many laborers to return to Mexico or to join family members working in other states. But others are sticking it out and hoping the work will return.

Having a car to drive to jobs is a huge advantage, said Jared, a laborer waiting at the Brentwood Home Depot who also asked to be identified only by his first name. He said some of the more enterprising workers have printed business cards, so employers can contact them for future jobs without returning to the pickup site.

Cutting back

With business so slow, contractors say they have no choice but to cut back on the amount of day labor they use.

"The worst part is laying off people, watching them suffer," said Bob Allsup of Manteca-based Allsup Lathing & Plastering, which has used day labor in the past. The lack of new housing construction has forced him to cut his crew from 41 workers to nine.

Oscar Martinez, a 54-year-old Mexican day laborer who visits the San Mateo day labor center daily in search of jobs, called the lack of work a "very radical" change that has led him to seek free lunches in soup kitchens and caused many of his friends to choose between paying rent or their phone bills.

Martinez once counted on the center to connect him with big contractors who provided him with work at least five days a week. Now, he's lucky to get between six and eight hours of work a week, mostly small jobs with homeowners who need help with gardening or moving.

His friend Pedro Hernandez, 44, said he arrived legally in the United States less than a month ago on a travel visa, but the dire situation for day laborers in the Bay Area has motivated him to return to Mexico at the end of the month.

"I prefer they call me a failure over there than to keep battling (for work) here," Hernandez said. "I'll come back some day when the economy improves."

Staff writers Paul Burgarino, Shauntel Lowe and Michael Manekin contributed to this story. Reach Hilary Costa at 925-779-7139 or hcosta@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Day Labor Resources
Monument Futures
ADDRESS: 2699 Monument Blvd., Suite G, Concord
PHONE: 925-680-2844
HOURS: 6 a.m. to noon Monday-Saturday

Volunteers of America Day Labor Center
ADDRESS: 4250 San Leandro St., Oakland
PHONE: 510-436-6970
HOURS: 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday

North Fair Oaks Day Worker Program
ADDRESS: 2500 Middlefield Road, Redwood City
PHONE: 650-339-2794
HOURS: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday

Worker Resource Center
ADDRESS: 400 Fifth Ave., San Mateo
PHONE: 650-344-1651
HOURS: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday; 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday-Sunday


inside
Nonprofit group in Berkeley tries to help by matching workers with contractors and
homeowners seeking laborers. Page 11
http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_9865491

disparity at the end of the month? not gettin enuf $$$ on the link card? my heart bleeds cherry kool-ade.

It is the same way all over the country it seems. The construction jobs are gone and with many homes in foreclosure there is no work. People have even been letting landscapers and maids go due to the poor economy. In South Florida many cities and counties are now able to enforce codes due to the decrease in construction and remodelling as well. Code enforcers have been also making sure people on the jobs are licensed contractors making it harder once again for illegals. Many illegals are now self deporting and I hope the trend continues. There have been alot of them going to police officers in South Florida and asking to be turned over to immigration as they want to go home. The free loaders have the nerve to expect us to pay their way home. I would like to be able to get the actual numbers of those turning themselves in to ICE at both the state and federal level.

What's wrong with this picture?

Small groups of men huddle in the shade of trees that dot a Home Depot parking lot. Vacrancy at it's finest? One man reclines on the pavement, resting his head on a pillow of concrete curb.Is he drunk? Why lay in the street preventing public egress? A few trail over to buy breakfasts of fresh tamales from the back of a red minivan.

Anyone get the feeling that the writer is romanticizing just a bit? Sounds like a endearing down-home folktale? Aside from the fact that the seller of those tamales probably has no food inspection or license, I'm highly suspicious of the freshness. Yiccchhhh!

Melvin Hernandez said his weekly income of $300 to $400 has shrunk in recent months — and with two children and a baby on the way, he is in desperate need of more work.

Sometimes all you can do is shake your head in amazement. Do they ever consider anything such as, How am I going to support and pay for these children? Unbelievable, of course I'm sure the taxpayers are picking up the tab.

They expect us to pay their way. The kids learn that sense of entitlement at a young age. I work with the Police Athletic League and I see it as they are now invading us. They have a English as a Second Language program there and you should see all the donations of candy, toys and food they get without even asking for it. Meanwhile we are close to one of the poorest black neighborhoods and they don't get the same treatment. I see some of the black kids in worn out and faded clothing so we try to help by asking for donations or bring in clothing from our relatives or friends who no longer need it. We also have people make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids so they aren't hungry. What I find amazing is that even though some of those black kids may be hungry they will not ask for handouts. Yet last week when we opened the concession stand the illegals kids came up alone and asked if everything is free. This happened more than once. I couldn't believe it. When we close the concession stand and we have hot dogs left over I will give them to the poorer kids after they finish practice. We know who they are so we try to help but with the illegals it is making it harder to do.

Originally Posted by swatchick

They expect us to pay their way. The kids learn that sense of entitlement at a young age. I work with the Police Athletic League and I see it as they are now invading us. They have a English as a Second Language program there and you should see all the donations of candy, toys and food they get without even asking for it. Meanwhile we are close to one of the poorest black neighborhoods and they don't get the same treatment. I see some of the black kids in worn out and faded clothing so we try to help by asking for donations or bring in clothing from our relatives or friends who no longer need it. We also have people make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the kids so they aren't hungry. What I find amazing is that even though some of those black kids may be hungry they will not ask for handouts. Yet last week when we opened the concession stand the illegals kids came up alone and asked if everything is free. This happened more than once. I couldn't believe it. When we close the concession stand and we have hot dogs left over I will give them to the poorer kids after they finish practice. We know who they are so we try to help but with the illegals it is making it harder to do.

As the economy gets worse we will see even the Pro Illegal people smarten up. When towns figure out their monies are going to outsiders they will tighten up on the free-loaders hopefully. And the idiots running this country will see the rath of a bunch of LEGAL pissed off Americans! Attrition and E-Verification works.

The reality is that even if all the jobs dried up, the illegal alien mothers who are here and aren't working are going to keep on having anchor babies. USA Today recently had an article stating that the Hispanic population here is increasing mostly due to births of children to illegal aliens as opposed to actual immigration. There has to be a way to deport these people!

He said some of the more enterprising workers have printed business cards, so employers can contact them for future jobs without returning to the pickup site.

Illegal aliens are handing out business cards now?!

This will create a vicious cycle of MORE CRIME. When people don't have work, they drink their miseries away, and we all know what drunks can do, especially angry, desparate illegal-alien drunks.

Then they will also resort to stealing. There goes our safety!

So, the local PD will start seeing a rise in crime. If they were smart, they'd call ICE to round them up and deport them immediately, b/c if they don't, they'll just be back on the streets, doing the same thing.