Posted on 05/01/2006 4:17:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Chinese food or a hamburger were easy to come by in the Mission District on Monday. Doughnuts or bagels? No problem. But in a neighborhood where every other storefront seems to house a tacqueria, you would have been hard-pressed to find a burrito.
With leaders of the national "Day Without Immigrants" calling for an economic boycott, many Hispanic-owned businesses closed for the day in the city's unofficial Latin quarter and throughout California, encouraging employees to participate in the massive protest marches.
"Today, no - no working and no buying," said Enrique Varguas, 28, who rescheduled a dozen or so landscaping appointments so he could participate in San Francisco's demonstration. "They will see how much money immigrants spend, and how much immigrants contribute to the economy of the country."
Though participation in the work stoppage was uneven and hard to gauge, its impact was hardly limited to Hispanic neighborhoods in a state that relies heavily on immigrant labor. Building contractors in many communities canceled jobs, appliance stores curtailed deliveries, parents scrambled to make alternative child care arrangements and farms had fewer people to pick produce.
At the state Capitol in Sacramento, the California Legislature canceled its floor sessions and the two onsite cafeterias remained latched because not enough employees showed up. Yet many large manufacturers, including the Farmer John meatpacking plant in Los Angeles and Gallo Wine's plants in Modesto, Fresno, Sonoma and other cities reported they were near fully staffed.
Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles Economic development Corp., said the economic fallout of the one-day boycott could be as high as $200 million in Los Angeles County. The estimate, a fraction of the $1.2 billion in economic activity the county generates daily, consisted of business lost on Monday and took into consideration commerce that would be made up later in the week.
Throughout the state, employers seemed eager to accommodate employees if they could. Fencing contractor Justin Lena had to postpone five of the six jobs he had scheduled in the San Francisco suburbs until Saturday after 14 of his 16 employees said they would not be coming to work.
Lena filled in, shoveling gravel. But he wasn't upset, especially after his most veteran employee told him his friends and family would be angry with him if he breached the boycott.
"The Mexican guys I have who work for me, they are absolutely fantastic workers. I've had Asian, I've had black and I've had white. (Hispanics) are the most hardworking, dedicated, family oriented, focused people I've ever had work for me," said Lena, 26. "The backbone of my business is on their shoulders."
Carmen Murray, owner of Rodeo Carpet Mills in Commerce, Calif., said she was operating on a skeleton staff Monday as two-thirds of her 33-person work force took the day off to attend rallies. She said her workers asked weeks in advance and were allowed to use vacation time.
"We thought it was important for them and we wanted to support their feelings," Murray said.
In food-loving San Francisco, owner Laurie Thomas made a deal with workers at her Rose Pistola restaurant: she would keep the Italian eatery shut for lunch if the night crew promised to show up for dinner. A sign on the door informed patrons of the closure, but didn't give the reason.
"I don't feel compelled to make a big statement about it," Thomas said. "We need to do what's right to run the business and sometimes that includes compromise."
Farmworker advocates claimed the boycott put a significant dent in one of the state's signature industries. The United Farm Workers union said the boycott shut down grape, strawberry and citrus harvests throughout California for the day.
"This really demonstrates the power that we have when we're unified," UFW President Arturo Rodriguez said from a rally in Salinas.
But agricultural interests said farmers were prepared for the boycott and would probably not suffer. Many farms and packing plants let their workers take the time off while others rearranged schedules to make up for missed work on Monday, California Farm Bureau Federation spokesman Dave Kranz said.
Sean McNally, a spokesman for Grimmway Farms in Bakersfield, said the company was down to less than 30 percent of its normal work force, but didn't have to close any of its vegetable-growing operations.
"We made it clear there would be no repercussions if they wanted to take that day off. We wanted them to feel free to express themselves," McNally said.
While industries with heavily Hispanic staffs saw the biggest impact, the boycott also had a trickle-down effect. Bay Area 2nd Mom Inc., a Palo Alto-based caregiver referral service, saw a sharp increase in calls on Sunday and Monday from parents who needed a last-minute nanny or baby sitter, said Chief Executive Shalini Azariah.
"Today our phones are just ringing off the hook," Azariah said.
For some enterprises, that meant a boon in business. With so most other restaurants closed, Wan Kee, a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District, did brisk lunchtime business.
"We have to eat, too," said Francisco Sanchez, 25, an ice cream vendor, tucking into a plate of rice and stir-friend scallops before he headed off to San Francisco's protest.
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Associated Press Writers Terence Chea, Gary Gentile, Olivia Munoz and Don Thompson contributed to this story.
They haven't shook the habit of shopping every day. Refrigeration is still a novelty to some.
Didn't notice anything in Virginia. I guess it's only the unemployed that went to the "Day without illegal" rallies.
Ha...May seem like it to you but there are scores of millions of us who want to see employers of illegal aliens get what they got coming to 'em...Millions of us 'peasants' out here...
Don't worry, Doofus. I'm doing my part.
Hope you catch up.
It looks like all we need to do to solve the traffic nightmare in Southern California is to enforce the immigration laws.
Most of the jobs in my area are already gone. Used to be steel mills here but they all moved overseas. Not a lot of jobs left to take here.
They move the factories overseas then they let the illegals come in and take the rest of the jobs.
Your government at work.
"I really bet Cinco De Mayo Festivities in the US will be down this year."
It's now called Sinko de Mayo!
Its too bad - best tuna melt ever but I've eaten there for the last time. Its now on my personal zot list.
Lol! Just how many FReepers shopped at a WalMart today? I didn't buy much, but I did make a point of stopping by : )
Interesting to see if their receipts were especially higher for today.
Well having said that, I'll 'fess up. 12 years ago our sewer pipe collapsed under the patio slab. Former husband picked up a couple of guys(presumably illegal-maybe not), rented a jackhammer and put them to work breaking concrete. I was ready to go to the hospital for labor induction, and there was sewage coming up into the bathtub, toilet, etc.
Keep in mind that I'm a life long CA resident, and until I was educated as to the true cost of hiring someone illegal, I really didn't have a problem. Now I do.
Go ahead and flame.
One of those "forced" to hire a nanny was interviewed on TV this afternoon taking her OWN children to the park (Oh, the Horror) because of a nanny no-show. The woman worked as a "fund raiser," but they didn't report the beneficiary of the "fund". IMO, these folks feel oh so righteous helping out the "lowly, downtrodden" ... albeit under the table with social costs passed on to the average American.
At least you're an AMERICAN boor!! :)
Ha! That I am...
Yo NO qiero Taco Bell.
This was a collossal flop.
HUGE flop.
It was a PR disaster because it DID make a backlash and showed how few supporters they have outside the illegal enabler circles.
If anything it showed the only supporters of illegal immigration were LITTERALLY communists left over from the cold war.
Don't have any day laborers in my neck of the woods...Local people would probably run them out...Lots of Americans here will work fairly reasonable, for cash...But they can be hard to locate when you need them in a hurry...
I wonder if the illegals were gone, would you still have legal day laborers in your area???
Time to boycott everything Mexican, (since they make up most of the illegal aliens here.)
I went to taco bell, for some strange reason my steak clalupa(s) with nacho sauce, tasted just a little better!
I think there are ordinances in the form of fire codes, just need to enforce them. All buildings should have occupancy limits (or at least should have) just for the safety everyone.
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