Classifieds

Publication Date: Friday, December 12, 2003

By Grace Rauh

Classroom chairs sat empty and a business closed on Friday, as local Latinos broke their routines to show support for the recently repealed state law that would have made undocumented workers eligible for driver's licenses.

Across the city, Latino workers toting handmade signs that read, "License For All, Safety For All" and "We Are Workers Not Terrorists" lined the streets and grocery store parking lots in protest.

Latino rights and services organizations had called for all California Latinos to skip work, close their businesses, pull their kids from school and refrain from spending money or visiting banks on Dec. 12. Organizers hoped to show just how important illegal workers are to the economy.

"I think that we are having a good response for this kind of thing. I think the people is really willing to fight for the driver's license and for the general rights, for the human beings' rights," said Maria Marroquin, director of the Day Worker Center in Mountain View.

Some parents showed their support for the strike by pulling their kids from school for the day.

At Castro School, where roughly 450 of the 500 students are Latino, principal Carla Tarazi said half the students were out for the day, but it was unclear if all were absent because of the strike. Roughly 60 to 70 students had been out sick each day earlier that week, Tarazi said.

The principal said she wanted all Castro students to attend classes on Friday because "missing a day is not good," but she would not say how she felt about the strike.

Some parents contacted the principal in advance to explain why they chose to keep their kids home.

"They just felt strongly that they should be recognized -- that they are here working and paying taxes and they should be allowed the driver's license," Tarazi said.

While many students stayed home and the Mercado Marlen grocery store closed for the day, not everyone heeded the call. For many Latinos, it was business as usual on Friday.

Mi Pueblo, a Mexican grocery store on Rengstorff Avenue, kept its doors open, and despite being encouraged to skip work, no store employees stayed home. Customers lined up to buy goods, and store manager Mauricio Orellana said the strike didn't keep his shoppers away.

But security guard Enrique Guzman, who kept watch over the grocery store, disagreed. He said business was slower than normal, but not slow enough.

"There is supposed to be nobody coming today," said Guzman, adding that he participated by not buying things. "I bring my lunch. I bring my water. I got my gas already. I don't want to spend one penny today."

A 10-year resident of California, Guzman owns a car but doesn't have a driver's license. "And I need it. I'm here for 10 years and I'm driving all the time and I got lucky the police never stop me," he said.

Guzman contemplated skipping work for the day, but when his boss said he would find a replacement for the day and potentially longer, he decided against it, he said.

As it turned out, most of the strikers outside Mi Pueblo and those on California Street were day workers who did not stand to lose a permanent job by not working on Friday.

A Latino construction worker who stocked up on burritos for his co-workers at a Mountain View taqueria said he supported the strike but could not miss work.

"Because I need to work. If I no work, I no eat," said Fausto Vega.

E-mail Grace Rauh at grauh@mv-voice.com