Avaliação: Migraciones y luchas por la ciudad – Making Sense of the City: Day Laborers Struggle in a Tough Economy

Making Sense of the City: Day Laborers Struggle in a Tough Economy
Daniel Melero Malpica, Ph.D.
daniel.malpica@sonoma.edu
Sonoma State University

Proposal submitted for the 57th Congress
Congress of Americanists
Iguassu Fall – Brazil 2023

Latin American migrants without legal status and limited opportunity to regular employment seek work throughout the United States as day laborers. Day laborers have become a visible and vital component of the economy overall. Despite being considered key workers specifically in nonstandard employment, many Americans regard day laborers as competitors for jobs or, more often as "illegal aliens" loitering on street corners and leering at women, threatening civility and social order. Using participant participation and in-depth interviews, this study seeks to understand why this ambivalent perception persists? This study intends to fill the lack of research in this area by providing a detailed analysis of day labor phenomena. Who are the day laborers? How do they find work? How do they know about the informal labor market? What is the relationship between the employers and day laborers. Do Latino day laborers have a voice in public places? What are the benefits of the worker centers for day laborers? How do day laborers resist via organizing efforts their marginalization in the informal economy? These questions are explored in a case study of The Graton Day Labor Center in Northern California.

Key words: labor migrants, informal economy, urban spaces, legal or illegal hosting of migrants, undocumented migrants, undocumented migrants organizing

• labor migrants, informal economy, urban spaces, migrants organizing