Hiring hall would provide shelter, training, connections to employers

(Editor's note: This is one in a series of stories about Latinos in Petaluma. This story focuses on efforts to open a hiring hall for day laborers in Petaluma. Next week's story will share the personal stories of some of the laborers.)

A group of local residents have revived an effort to create a day laborer hiring hall in Petaluma, giving temporary workers a safe place to gather, learn skills and connect with employers.

The plan is aimed to help workers who are hired to do informal, short-term jobs such as yard work and construction. After taking notice of the hardships the workers face - being harassed by passers-by, waiting for work while having no shelter, and sometimes not being paid for the work they do - a group of residents called the Petaluma Latinos Active in Civic Engagement, or PLACE, decided to spearhead the effort.

"I feel very optimistic this time around about what can happen," said Teresa Lopez, a member of the group and the daughter of Mexican immigrants.

A similar plan to create a day laborer center in Petaluma was attempted about five years ago, but did not gather momentum at the time. Now, members of the group are focusing on leading a long-term community dialogue about the possible center and are modeling the plans after successful hiring halls in other communities.

"The biggest challenge will be identifying the location and getting the support of the community behind it," said Lopez.

But a main focus of the plan is to "have the day laborers themselves be part of the process," said Lopez.

Most day laborers in Petaluma now gather on mornings near the Shell gas station at the corner of Washington and Howard streets. Many are immigrants of Latino origin who came to Petaluma seeking work after poor economic conditions forced them out of their own countries. The jornaleros, as they are called in Spanish, often have families back home that they send money to or plan to return to. Many are undocumented, while a number are in the United States legally, said members of the group.

Members of the group say they have encountered some opposition from people who feel the workers are taking away Americans' jobs. Others are neighbors in the Howard Street area upset about the workers standing outside their homes all day.

The group hopes to ease some concerns by telling the personal stories of the workers, who they say are doing jobs that most unemployed Americans would not do at a wage they would not accept. The group showed a film at the Aqus Cafe Sunday called "Why We Come," telling the story of immigrants and hardships they face in their home country.

"It's no wonder (they come to the United States)," said Donna Shearer, a professor at Sonoma State and member of the group. "The last resort is to leave your community and take all these risks to just get by."

The group is taking lessons learned from existing hiring halls, including the Graton Day Labor Center, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.

"People have been really supportive," said Graton hiring coordinator Omar Gallardo. He said that the hiring hall first started because of tensions between the workers and the rest of the community.

The tension was addressed by working first to "put a different face to it, a positive face to day laborers," said Gallardo. To do so, the workers themselves focused on becoming "positive role models in the community" through volunteer work and direct outreach.

Now, the center serves as a place for potential employers to call when they are looking for temporary workers. The day laborers are given priority for hiring based on how long it has been since they last worked. Those who don't work that day study English or are taught specific trades by volunteers. Instead of a simple hiring opportunity, the building has become a community center for the day laborers in town, said Gallardo.

In Petaluma, organizers hope to follow Graton's successful model, but first must find a location for the hiring hall. Some have suggested a mobile home or existing buildings in the Howard Street area.

"We definitely don't have any land to say, &‘That's what we're looking at,'" said Lopez.

But that and other questions will be determined as the community dialogue progresses with neighbors, police, businesses and eventually, the City Council.

"Everybody had input, and it took a long time," said Gallardo about the process of establishing the hiring hall in Graton.

(Contact Philip Riley at philip.riley@arguscourier.com)