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Today's Protests Shutter L.A.'s Produce and Garment Districts
By Jesus Sanchez
Times Staff Writer

4:47 PM PDT, May 1, 2006

The normally bustling downtown Los Angeles produce and garment districts were virtually shut down today, and truck traffic at the ports was down sharply after many employees protesting the nation's immigration policy's did not show up for work.

The dearth of activity in the produce and garment districts, both heavily dependent on immigrant labor, was so far the most dramatic sign of the impact of today's organized immigration protests on local commerce. Only sporadic business closures and staffing shortages reported across the remainder of Southern California.

The Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market — which provides fresh food to restaurants, grocery store chains and countless mom and pop outlets — was unusually quiet at 2:30 am when the sprawling complex is normally a din of shouting workers and rumbling trucks The nearby 7th Street Market, the region's second-largest wholesale food market, never even bothered to open.

"This is not a normal day," said Robert Barrios as he viewed the sedate concrete loading docks at the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market. "This time of the day, you usually have trucks pulling in, pulling out. People yelling, "Hey, let's go! Get out of the way!"

A few hours later, visitors to the nearby downtown garment district were greeted by block after block of shuttered storefronts and garment factories. Many businesses had decided to close after workers informed them of their plans not to show up today, according to business owners.

Pelicana Fashion on Maple Street was one of the few businesses that tried to open today but manager Sueli Shin decided to close up shop before 11 am.

"Only one of my six workers showed up," Shin said as she was preparing to close the shop.

The labor boycott also apparently made itself felt at Southland hospitals, where more than twice as many nurses, aides and housekeepers failed to show up as usual for the 7 a.m. shift, said Jim Lott, a spokesman for the Hospital Assn. of Southern California.

"Usually we see 3 to 5% absenteeism on a Monday, and we're running 8 to 12%," Lott said.

Hospitals called in temporary workers and consolidated patients, but absenteeism returned to normal levels during the afternoon shift. "So far the shortages haven't been so severe that they've had to stop anything," Lott said.

Truckers who honored the immigration boycott hobbled shipping operations throughout the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the fifth-largest harbor complex in the world. Traffic on the roads that cut through the ports as well as on the Long Beach Freeway was noticeably lighter as truck activity was down by as much as 80%, according to marine terminal operators.

At the APL Global Gateway South terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, spokesman Mike Zampa said that about 40 trucks an hour were moving through the terminal's gates this morning, compared to 175 an hour during the same time last week.

Terminal managers and port officials said, however, the immigration boycott has not affected the unloading of ships or railroad operations in the port. They also said the impact will be shortlived because the backlogs of cargo will be cleared in the days ahead, and some companies that anticipated the boycott moved and picked up cargo over the weekend.

"It's been pretty quiet," McCorkle said. "But a one-day event isn't going to have a big impact. We expect we will be able to move some cargo tonight."

Some port truck drivers who chose not to work gathered for a noon rally that drew about 200 people to Banning Park in Wilmington. There, supporters wearing white waved the U.S. and Mexican flags at drivers passing on Pacific Coast Highway. Roughly half the drivers honked in response.

Independent trucker Lucio Vasquez, 38, of Wilmington said he came to the United States from Mexico City illegally in 1981 to find work. Although he is now a citizen, he chose to join the boycott to show solidarity with illegal immigrants. "A long time ago, I was in the same situation," Vasquez said.

At Hannam Chain Market World, one of the oldest Korean supermarkets in Koreatown, about 60 non-Korean employees, mostly Latino, didn't show up for work today. And those who did were planning to leave at noon.

But manager B.J. Kim was hoping to keep his store, at Olympic and Vermont, open all day with the help of his Korean workers, who did show up.

"You have to pass the day," said Kim, who planned to do little more than staff the cashiers, forgoing stocking the shelves and other nonessential work. The store's sound system was tuned to Korean radio to keep abreast of the day's events.

One of Hannam's Latino workers who did report for his regular shift was bagger Michael Carranza, 39, a long-time employee and immigrant from Guatemala

"I've been here for 11 years and being here helped me raise a family," said Carranza, who is undocumented but said he is in the process of getting papers. "So I volunteered to come here this morning."

In the San Fernando Valley, it was a shortage of shoppers and not necessarily workers that prompted 11 businesses to close at the Panorama Mall by late morning.

"I've never seen it like this," said Edward Ourishian, who was planning to close his shop, Prime Time, a watch and jewelry stand, by noon. "There is nobody here. Usually it's crowded here. Ninety-five percent of the shoppers are Hispanic. But, look, now you see only white faces."

In the same mall, employees at the Wal-Mart outnumbered the shoppers, while a branch of La Curacao, a department store that caters to newly arrived immigrants, was closed for shopping but open to offer free legal advice.

"We're taking a big hit but it's worth it," said manager Jose Cruz, whose store normally would serve up to 3,000 customers on a Monday.

The nearly 700 Carl's Jr. fast food restaurants in California were open for business today but about half a dozen outlets in the Los Angeles area had to close their dining rooms and limit service to drive-thrus because of a lack of workers, said spokeswoman Anne Hallock.

"They have signs on the windows saying they have limited service," Hallock said.

Times staff writers Daniel Yi, David Coker, Molly Selvin, Cynthia Cho, Nancy Cleeland, Dan Weikel and Lisa Girion contributed to this story.