CHARITY INSIDER

SUMMER 2022

Photo: At Catholic Charities St. Luke’s Training Center, instructor Carlos Canales leads a class in workplace safety.

WORKING SOLUTIONS

THEY'RE KNOWN AS PARADAS – the unofficial, unregulated labor markets on streetcorners or stretches of sidewalk where clusters of obreros (laborers) gather every morning in hopes of work as movers, painters, landscapers, construction workers – or whatever jobs are available. Most are immigrant men, the great majority undocumented, in urgent need of money to support their families. Employers drive up, find the workers they need, and hire them for the day.

It’s a formula ripe for exploitation. The obreros are usually paid below market value for their work, generally not paid overtime when they work long hours, and often exposed to unsafe work conditions. If they are injured, there may be no insurance coverage or workers’ compensation. They are often subject to harassment and immigration threats. And if an unscrupulous employer underpays (or doesn’t pay at all), the obrero has scant legal remedy.

“These men and women are stuck in legal limbo in the United States,” explains Mario Russell, director of Refugee and Immigrant Services for Catholic Charities of New York. “Many have been here for decades, and most have families. They have built, improved, strengthened, and rebuilt the state, the county, the city. It is important for us to be there to help them and educate them and defend them when they need to be defended.”

At Catholic Charities Day Laborer Programs in the Bronx and Yonkers, as well as at other sponsored agencies around the region, help is offered in a variety of ways to more than 2,000 workers annually. Coordinators monitor certain paradas to provide a level of protection for workers: keeping records of which workers go with which employers and, when possible, notes about agreed wages and other terms of work. They can help obreros advocate for themselves and take legal action to recover unpaid wages. “In times of crisis such as the pandemic,” says Russell, “we can also help out with financial assistance, food, rent.”

Training center staff (left to right) Yovanny Garcia, Michelle Rosario, Nandy Tatis, Jacobo Cancinos, and Juan Pablo Morales Estrada.

In addition, the program offers education and training about workplace safety and rights, and can refer obreros to legal services to help them with immigration issues. Training in OSHA and New York City workplace safety standards can deliver the dual benefit of educating the obrero to prevent workplace injuries while also providing certification that qualifies them to work at construction sites and other workplaces where employment is better paid, safer, and more predictable.

“The obreros at the paradas are dealing with what’s most urgent for them,” says Juan Pablo Morales Estrada, who coordinates Catholic Charities day laborer services at St. Luke’s in the South Bronx. “They need work, and we can help make that process as safe and fair as possible. But beyond what’s urgent, we want to help them with what’s equally important: their rights, their safety, and making sure they are not exploited. Among other things, that they actually get paid.” 

In mid-June, in the basement of St. Luke’s, Catholic Charities offered its monthly Spanish-language OSHA certification course for obreros. Over five days, the attendees received 40 hours of training. Flooring and drywall worker Gualberto Colon was referred to the course by a friend with whom he used to volunteer at a food pantry. “The certification I get here means I can work more steadily at more places, safer places,” he says. “I can make my family’s life better.”

In addition to the South Bronx office, Catholic Charities operates a program in Yonkers, where a new community center for day laborers and their families is set to open this summer. Similar programs, run by other agencies and sponsored by Catholic Charities, help obreros in Portchester and other locations around the archdiocese. 

“No matter what you think about the immigration issue that is so divisive in this country,” says Morales Estrada, “these obreros work hard, they have skills, and they are doing work that is needed. No one else is lining up to do it. If they are filling a need in this economy, we should make sure they are treated fairly. We should treat them as brothers and sisters.”