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U.S. citizens now showing up at day-labor hiring sites
LAS VEGAS - In the latest sign of the economic free fall, U.S. citizens are starting to show up in the early mornings outside home improvement stores and plant nurseries across the Las Vegas Valley, jostling with illegal immigrants for a shot at a few hours of work.
Experts say the slow starting but seemingly inexorable trend is occurring nationwide.
"It's the equivalent of selling apples in the Great Depression," said Harley Shaiken, chairman of the Center for Latin American studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network in Los Angeles, said Americans in day labor lines is occurring in a number of cities. "It's happening, though still not in massive numbers," Alvarado said. In the past six months or so, he has heard of "americanos" on the street corners and parking lots of Silver Spring, Md., Long Island, N.Y., and Southern California locations.
"It's just beginning," he said. "But I think it's only going to increase."
In the Las Vegas Valley, where the most recent unemployment rate was 13.9 percent, one face of this phenomenon is Ken Buchanan, who describes himself as a "food and beverage" guy, most recently working four years at Renata's Sunset Lanes casino and, before that, 30 years in a string of restaurants, hotels and casinos here and in his native Chicago.
But in 2006 Renata's closed for remodeling. When the casino reopened as Wildfire, the management did not rehire Buchanan, he said.
In the months that followed, Buchanan, 50, discovered the difficulty of seeking work in his fifth decade, eventually winding up at a car wash.
The banks foreclosed on the house he was renting. In the attempt to grab his things two steps ahead of the constable, he wound up missing work. He lost his job. He became homeless.
A Hispanic man who Buchanan met in Renata's told him he had picked up work standing outside a Home Depot. One July day, Buchanan gave it a try. At first, he got nothing but sunburn. But then he started to get work. Now he's at the Home Depot six days most weeks.
Shaiken said shaking up the mix at day labor sites might eventually produce conflict in the greater society. "It essentially shreds the argument that Americans don't want certain jobs," he said.
In the current economy, he added, "we're almost sure to see die-hard opponents of illegal immigrants seize on the fact that we have legal workers in day labor markets," heating an already-inflamed debate.
In the longer term, it may also lead to a more rigorous analysis of future labor markets, including revised estimates of how many immigrants would be needed under a guest worker program, as proposed in recent congressional bills.
At the same time, Shaiken said, the issue won't become central to the debate before Congress over what is known as comprehensive reform, including a pathway for legalizing millions of workers. "The point is, do we really want a labor market with day labor work as a career path? It's more a commentary on the economy right now," he said.
Although Alvarado allowed that the change in day labor sites was an undeniable sign of the withering economy, he also sees a "beautiful irony" in U.S. citizens seeking work as day laborers.
That's because his organization has defended the free-speech rights of day laborers in at least 10 court cases over more than a decade. Up to now, courts have ruled in favor of the laborers.
"We always knew (these cases) would be useful not only for immigrants, but also for U.S. citizens," Alvarado said. "We knew there would be a time when the economy would reach this point, and they also would be looking for work this way."
Antonio Bernabe, day labor organizer for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said the appearance of more U.S. citizens seeking day labor work poses new challenges for organizations such as his. In recent months, he said, he has found himself explaining to a whole new group the legal rights of workers, as well as approaching local authorities to discuss the entry of new people into what he called "the world of day labor." That group includes blacks and Asians, he said.
Bernabe said organizers came across one case where a local sheriff had been sending officers to answer complaints about day laborers and then found one day that the sheriff's neighbor, a citizen, was among them. Police in that area have been less likely to harass laborers since then, he said. These events will occur more, changing people's attitudes in the process, he said.
"For a long time, people have looked at day laborers and said, 'The problem is the immigrants.' Now the economy is changing. Now people may see it's a problem of the labor market, of the rights of workers," Bernabe said.
LAS VEGAS - In the latest sign of the economic free fall, U.S. citizens are starting to show up in the early mornings outside home improvement stores and plant nurseries across the Las Vegas Valley, jostling with illegal immigrants for a shot at a few hours of work.
Experts say the slow starting but seemingly inexorable trend is occurring nationwide.
"It's the equivalent of selling apples in the Great Depression," said Harley Shaiken, chairman of the Center for Latin American studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network in Los Angeles, said Americans in day labor lines is occurring in a number of cities. "It's happening, though still not in massive numbers," Alvarado said. In the past six months or so, he has heard of "americanos" on the street corners and parking lots of Silver Spring, Md., Long Island, N.Y., and Southern California locations.
"It's just beginning," he said. "But I think it's only going to increase."
In the Las Vegas Valley, where the most recent unemployment rate was 13.9 percent, one face of this phenomenon is Ken Buchanan, who describes himself as a "food and beverage" guy, most recently working four years at Renata's Sunset Lanes casino and, before that, 30 years in a string of restaurants, hotels and casinos here and in his native Chicago.
But in 2006 Renata's closed for remodeling. When the casino reopened as Wildfire, the management did not rehire Buchanan, he said.
In the months that followed, Buchanan, 50, discovered the difficulty of seeking work in his fifth decade, eventually winding up at a car wash.
The banks foreclosed on the house he was renting. In the attempt to grab his things two steps ahead of the constable, he wound up missing work. He lost his job. He became homeless.
A Hispanic man who Buchanan met in Renata's told him he had picked up work standing outside a Home Depot. One July day, Buchanan gave it a try. At first, he got nothing but sunburn. But then he started to get work. Now he's at the Home Depot six days most weeks.
Shaiken said shaking up the mix at day labor sites might eventually produce conflict in the greater society. "It essentially shreds the argument that Americans don't want certain jobs," he said.
In the current economy, he added, "we're almost sure to see die-hard opponents of illegal immigrants seize on the fact that we have legal workers in day labor markets," heating an already-inflamed debate.
In the longer term, it may also lead to a more rigorous analysis of future labor markets, including revised estimates of how many immigrants would be needed under a guest worker program, as proposed in recent congressional bills.
At the same time, Shaiken said, the issue won't become central to the debate before Congress over what is known as comprehensive reform, including a pathway for legalizing millions of workers. "The point is, do we really want a labor market with day labor work as a career path? It's more a commentary on the economy right now," he said.
Although Alvarado allowed that the change in day labor sites was an undeniable sign of the withering economy, he also sees a "beautiful irony" in U.S. citizens seeking work as day laborers.
That's because his organization has defended the free-speech rights of day laborers in at least 10 court cases over more than a decade. Up to now, courts have ruled in favor of the laborers.
"We always knew (these cases) would be useful not only for immigrants, but also for U.S. citizens," Alvarado said. "We knew there would be a time when the economy would reach this point, and they also would be looking for work this way."
Antonio Bernabe, day labor organizer for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said the appearance of more U.S. citizens seeking day labor work poses new challenges for organizations such as his. In recent months, he said, he has found himself explaining to a whole new group the legal rights of workers, as well as approaching local authorities to discuss the entry of new people into what he called "the world of day labor." That group includes blacks and Asians, he said.
Bernabe said organizers came across one case where a local sheriff had been sending officers to answer complaints about day laborers and then found one day that the sheriff's neighbor, a citizen, was among them. Police in that area have been less likely to harass laborers since then, he said. These events will occur more, changing people's attitudes in the process, he said.
"For a long time, people have looked at day laborers and said, 'The problem is the immigrants.' Now the economy is changing. Now people may see it's a problem of the labor market, of the rights of workers," Bernabe said.
but 5 years of freeness is outrageous.
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