For some Healdsburg residents it is an unspoken truth people seek work at Healdsburg’s downtown Plaza. But others might be unaware of the daily career fair happening in the Plaza’s four corners.
Mariano Lopez Hernandez, 61, from Veracruz, actively looks for work at the Plaza but he also enjoys going for leisure.
He has a work permit but is currently out of work. Lopez said there is almost always work available but not everyone gets a gig everyday. Lopez said he likes fieldwork the most and all kinds of work except for construction because “he is of age.”
“We have a job for moments. Sometimes five hours, sometimes three days, sometimes one day. That helps to eat,” Lopez said, speaking Spanish.
“Sometimes there is daily work, the employers will arrive,” he said. Lopez used to live in Lodi, California and arrived in Sonoma County years ago. He was sent back to Mexico once but decided to come back.
“And here I am, I want to work. I came here to work, my family is in Mexico but I already found myself here and I feel happy,” Lopez said.
He noticed the Healdsburg Plaza was a way to find work since he first arrived. Lopez said sometimes people pay $20 to $25 an hour but they are tough jobs. Usually, they are around five to ten hours.
“Then I come back here. I come to all of the four corners,” whenever a gig is done, Lopez said.. Lopez used to have a house where he lived but said he believes someone burned it down, he now lives in a tent under the freeway.
Manuel Castillo Osorio, 56, from Sinaloa has been coming back and forth from Sinaloa to California for 35 years. Castillo is a U.S. resident and a fieldworker, but goes to Healdsburg’s Plaza every once in a while in the mornings to look for extra jobs.
“My friends told me about coming here 20 years ago. I know a lot of people come here to look for jobs. I have found gigs for construction, painting, field jobs too,” Castillo said in Spanish.
“I have found some construction ones that have lasted a few months. Today I don’t have work which is why I came today,” he said.
Castillo will stay until 11 a.m. to wait for work.
“The most I have waited for a job is three days. I would like another way to find a job but I also like coming to the Plaza,” he said.
“I would like a more stable job, maybe a painting job which is smoother, not as rough,” Castillo said.
Leobardo Ortega Montoya, 43, a friend of Castillo’s, lives in Cloverdale and decided to go to the Plaza for the day to see what job he could find. Ortega said he has been going to the Plaza seeking employment for about eight years.
“There are days where there is work and others there is not. I also like coming to drink coffee,” Ortega said in Spanish.
From gardening to moving jobs, Ortega has found a variety of employment opportunities.
“I love gardening jobs the most. I have my job but during the holidays I like to come and see what I find,” he said.
“I have never gotten a job that lasts more than a few days, it would be better to find something longer term,” he said.
Glaydon de Freitas, CEO of Corazón Healdsburg, said he does not find odd men are seeking employment at the Plaza.
“It’s very similar to what happened in Houston when I was there. But in Houston, they would stay in front of stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s. Anytime you wanted some kind of work, especially for a handyman job, you would go to Home Depot or Lowe’s, they would be in front of that,” de Freitas said.
“So it’s very similar here. Their spot is in the Plaza. I think, especially among the Latin American men who do this hard work and this hard job, it’s very common for them to gather. They are able to do different tasks, like loading and unloading trucks to fix some small things. It’s interesting,” he said.
De Freitas believes the reason these men are not seeking longer term employment such as a job requiring a resume per say, is because of the limitations that formal work brings.
“It can be regarding immigration, that’s for sure. But the first one is like language and most of the language barriers but also to write a resume, to apply for jobs that are always requiring an email or these technological tools,” de Freitas said.
Immigration status is a setback but also the amount of money they can make.
“If they stay there for a day and they do a day’s work in a construction site, they’re going to be paid much more than if they are, for example, a dishwasher in a restaurant,” he said.
“If they don’t speak English, especially in the hospitality industry, you don’t get too far. There’s only so much men can do in the hospitality industry. They are not very often hired to work in hotels or to clean, they are hired to do dishwasher work or something like that. So they count on this kind of work that pays a little bit more,” De Freitas said.
From experience, De Freitas said there is a stigma surrounding men like Lopez, Castillo and Ortega.
“I’ve heard people from the community saying that, ‘Oh, they are drunkards’ or I’ve heard sometimes referring to them as homeless, a little bit of prejudice. They are just waiting for a job. They have families, they have dignity. People have a misconception about that just because they’re waiting, it’s not the traditional work settings or the way that we’re accustomed to,” he said.
One option for job seekers is attending the Healdsburg Day Labor Center run by the California Human Development organization. The center has been established since 2005.
Berenice Torres, program manager, said most of the men in the Plaza know about the center but are unaware of what their services offer.
“Some of them hesitate just because of trust issues. Some of them just don’t know a lot about us so they still feel hesitant about coming. Some of them just can’t come because they’ve been asked not to come due to some problems. But mostly we’ve had a really good connection with the guys at the Plaza to try to provide that trust with them,” Torres said.
“We try to work with them to provide services other than just dispatching for work. We help them with resources if they need it. We’re also here to help them with translation. Because they are at the Plaza, they don’t have the advocacy of knowing their rights,” she said.
Torres said sometimes her staff goes out to the Plaza and provides them with protocols such as how to advocate for themselves when they’re at work.
“We also like to have them come in once in a while just for workshops, we provide workshops here at our center for skills and we are always open to everyone,” she said.
Torres believes not a lot of people are aware of the labor center because their biggest marketing is word of mouth.
“We’re trying to expand and do like Facebook and Instagram, we’re trying to use our social media platforms through our agency to bring awareness,” she said.
Torres added most of her staff is bilingual and does outreach to men in the Plaza to try to get them through their door.
Two men waiting for work in the Plaza who asked to remain anonymous said they were aware of the Healdsburg Day Labor Center, but that they thought that the barrier of access was too high.
“You need a good social security number to find work there,” they both said.
“You don’t get a job if you don’t have one that works,” they said.
One of them added the system labor centers use are not always stable. He also said he found people who attended to seek jobs did not always follow the rules.
“I have gone before and people (waiting for jobs) do not have respect. They will skip you in the line, they do not care. We know about it but its just not much help for us,” he said.
The labor center is open Monday through Friday and is located on 405 Grove St. It opens from 7 a.m. to noon. “We are open to anyone, they can come in and ask questions. All we ask for when they do come in and register is just a valid ID and that’s about it,” she said.
