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Date Posted: 13:59:21 02/16/08 Sat
Author: JMR (Looking for a yob)
Subject: Willing and able, but out of work


02/16/2008
Willing and able, but out of work
BY EVELYN NIEVES
ASSOCIATED PRESS


GRATON, Calif. — The most desperate men park themselves on corners well before dawn, hoping for first dibs on jobs.


Most days, no one gets dibs — no one gets jobs.

Foreclosures are at record highs, home sales are at record lows and skittish consumers are cutting back on spending, all of which means contractors, construction crews and carpenters are no longer hiring. Neither are landscapers, cleaning services or homeowners.

“These are the worst of times,” would-be worker Ramon De la Cruz said recently in Spanish, noting that he had worked only one day in the previous six.

Mr. De la Cruz came here from Tabasco, Mexico, three years ago to earn money to provide for his daughter, now 5. Only a year ago, he could still make $500 a week.

But Graton (pop. 1,815), sits in western Sonoma County, which has been hit hard by the housing downturn. Home loan defaults nearly tripled from 2006 to 2007, while housing prices dropped by 22 percent, according to DataQuick, a real estate data firm.

Mr. De la Cruz and his friends at the Graton Day Labor Center, where seven out of 70 workers might nab work on what passes for a good day, are not sure what they will do.

The more than 100,000 day laborers looking for work on any given day — already among the poorest, most stigmatized workers in the country, and many of them here illegally — are finding themselves struggling as never before. Without the proper documents, their job options are limited to odd jobs for cash. Without those, many can barely feed themselves, let alone provide for their families, here or in their native countries.

“Our fear is that the economic downturn will create a perfect storm where day laborers will be scapegoated more than they already are,” said Chris Newman, legal director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. “They’re already deemed symbols of a broken immigration system. What will happen next?”

In the last year, cities and states across the country have been stepping up efforts to drive away day laborers.

Citizens who oppose illegal immigration are taking their own action. In Houston, members of U.S. Border Watch, a civilian border patrol group, scribble down license plate numbers at popular day labor hiring spots and report would-be employers to federal authorities.

The Graton center, open since September, is considered a model day laborer center. It was organized after a year’s worth of community meetings, and built by day laborers and community volunteers. Volunteers hold English classes five days a week and teach practical skills.

The other day, 50 men and six women showed up when the center opened at 7 a.m., most not expecting to find work. The workers, ranging in age from about 18 to 50, milled around folding tables, drinking coffee. Some reminisced about the days when they made up to $700 a week.

“Winter doesn’t help,” said Juan Cuandon, a 27-year-old day laborer. “The hope is that jobs will bloom again in the spring.”

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