Workers Centers: From Activism To Survival.

FERNANDA PAGE POMA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Social Justice and Democratization; 2012

ISSA

Immigrants are many times at greater risk of being injured and exploited (Chang 2000, Cranford 2005) on the job than native-born workers. Some immigrants also face language barriers and suffer discrimination (Hondagneu-Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001, Salazar Parreñas 2001). Such is the case of day laborers who, in addition, often don?t have legal documents that allow them to work in the US. Thus, in order to find their way in the world of work in the US many immigrant day laborers seek the assistance of community organizations. A specific type of community organization is the workers? center. Worker centers provide opportunities for organizing collective actions as well as training, legal assistance, and English tutoring among other services. Based on ethnographic research on day laborer organizing, In this paper I examine the organization, methods and tactics of a workers? center that combines the goal of organizing and functioning as a labor market intermediary for day laborers. Through an ethnographic study of a Latin American community based organization I find that although the organization rhetorically promotes organizing and mobilizing, protest work in the center is almost inexistent. In practice the organization only fights for its own survival.