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.
LAPD just released numbers -- 250K in the rally earlier in downtown LA.
75K hanging around now.
I've been saying this for a long time...
Oh my goodness, yes....I went shopping big time.
It was a wonderful and patriotic thing to do....
Not after TODAY you won't! ;)
Refreshing!
Well, you've got a lot of guts admitting that...Do you also shoplift and leave restaurants with 'their' silverware??? It is cheaper than buying your own...
If I did it again, I would not hire illegal workers at all.
If they start enforcing the law, maybe you'll end up in jail...
I would like them hanging in Beverly Hills. Near Barbs and Baldwin.
Groovy. So move to Mexico. According to you, should be Nirvana. Why wait? Leave now, take your backbone with you...we'll just have to muddle along without y'all...
Report from Occupied San Jose: driving around East San Jose (the center of the civilized Universe, where all Hardworking, Dedicated, Family Oriented and Focused People dwell), I saw a number of the usual dilapidated cars and trucks draped, of course, with giant Mexican flags, and piloted by the usual sinister looking folks who appear to be evading the parole officer today. Did not see the GIANT demonstrations on King and Story roads, even though I was on both about the time when it was supposedly happening....maybe I'm just myopic.
Never forget that Fox also had whorealdo out there telling us how nice the good people of aztlan were being as they went about reconquesta...
And it was a beautiful sound.
It was the sound of Americans doing the work Americans would do if illegal aliens weren't doing it for less.
God Bless America and God Bless Americans!!
I'm boycotting CNN and Fox News today.
"I really bet Cinco De Mayo Festivities in the US will be down this year."
Ah. Despite the annoyance of the Commie holiday getting some attention, there's always a silver lining.
Truly!
This article is unmitigated B.S.
I noticed that as well, the usual hour plus trip into Orange County (CA) took about 35 minutes, coming back only about 5 more....
Who'd a thunk it!
(PS: not sure if it was less vehicles or just fewer weird/slow/erratic/irritating freeway challenged illegals, but it was nice. I'm told the trucks into and out of the harbor were at least somewhat immigrant free also - must have been nice on the 710.)
I passed driving thru that area last time and today as well.
They had some live coverage from there on local news, it didn't look huge to me..
I let it be known that I would be doing business as usual today and there would be no rescheduling. Anyone who chose to alter hours or not show up would be out my business henceforth.
I got a couple takers, my usual breakfast restaurant boycotted so I went to another that did not, and I will not return to the old restaurant. Both restaurants are owned and run by immigrants, just one group screwed themselves.
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