During my nine years of working with day laborers, I have encountered many common concerns about the Day Worker Center of Mountain View. Although we have many more supporters than detractors, each time we change the center’s location we are still met with some familiar suspicions and reservations.
I would like to address some of these concerns by starting with the legal basis of the Day Worker Center (DWC). We are a nonprofit organization by permission of the U.S. government. We keep our records according to local, state and federal requirements. Our governing structure consists of a board of directors, worker’s commission, and hard-working staff, assisted by many wonderful volunteers. Locally and nationally, we are connected to the major day laborer organizations and other groups.
In addition, we have rules within our center. No one is allowed to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Offensive behavior is not tolerated. Honesty, integrity and respect are cultivated. Day laborers must participate in English classes and other training, such as CPR and first aid. Discipline is strict because we depend on well-behaved, diligent workers to insure that our services are readily available and reliable for employers. We know that if we don’t provide good follow-through, employers will not return.
All of us at the DWC want to fulfill our mission. For our continued well-being, we need to be respectful, happy, supportive of one another, and involved with the surrounding community in positive ways. The DWC is our home. We count on having a crime-free, garbage-free, attractive, fully functioning environment.
Parking at the DWC is virtually never a problem. Very few day workers have cars, and employers arrive intermittently throughout the day, with little or no build-up in traffic.
Another aspect to consider is that the overwhelming majority of day laborers are economic refugees, migrating to the U.S. because their jobs have been devoured by profound economic changes in their home countries. They are only here because their families’ survival depends upon their working far from all they hold dear.
The Center for American Progress looked at the belief that immigrants burden the U.S. health care system and reported that immigrants actually “contribute more in revenues than they consume in services.” The idea that immigrants are taking a lot of money out of the U.S. Social Security system is also a myth. The National Research Council has studied this issue and concluded that immigrants “pay an average of $80,000 more per person into the system than they will use in government services over their lifetimes.” Both pieces of information are from “Public Citizen’s Health Research Group Health Letter,” dated September 2007.
Many people tell us that the DWC gives them hope and offers a beautiful example of human beings reaching across differences and working together to attain common goals. I invite you to visit our center at 748 Mercy Street. Come sit with us for a while and see for yourself, or view our Web site at www.dayworkercentermv.org You are always welcome.
Maria Marroquin is director of the Day Worker Center in Mountain View.
