Thread: KS: Day laborers face hard choice

Posted on Fri, Jan. 23, 2009
Day laborers face hard choice: Weather the economic slump or return to their native countries
By MALCOLM GARCIA
The Kansas City Star

Guillermo Alvidrez stood inside the Westside CAN Center, clutching his cold hands beneath his chin to warm them.

He had been outside hoping for someone to drive up and offer him some work, but, as in previous days, no one had. Around him, other day laborers huddled in groups talking, bored and bumming cigarettes. Alvidrez engaged in small talk with little interest.

“My cousin went back to Mexico in January,â€

More and more, day laborers in the metro area are finding it hard if not impossible to find steady work, a stark turnaround from recent years, when the housing boom and a bustling economy provided regular jobs.

Meanwhile what will they be doing while there is no work for them? Where will there food and money come from? Their rent money?

In Kansas City, Kan., pastor Fernando Aguilar of La Fe en Jesucristo Church knows several Hispanic immigrant families who tired of living on nothing and returned to Mexico. A father with his wife and three children called him from a bus station and said that without a job he had no choice but to leave.

And good riddance. Take the rest with you on your journey.

[quote]“It’s very slow,â€

The posted article allows you to add a comment as well

Originally Posted by uniteasone

The posted article allows you to add a comment as well

And I did!