Geographies of Hope and Despair:
Atlanta's African American, Latino, and White Day Laborers
Atlanta's African American, Latino, and White Day Laborers
Terry Easton, Emory University
Essay Sections:
Introduction
| International Atlanta | De-Centering the City | Labor Pools | Catch-Out Corners |
Non-Profit Hiring Halls | Workers on the Edge | Laboring for Justice | Notes | Recommended Resources
Non-Profit Hiring Halls | Workers on the Edge | Laboring for Justice | Notes | Recommended Resources
Catch-Out Corners
Day laborers who waited at street corners for jobs were hired to do construction or landscaping work for a contractor or subcontractor, or they might have worked for a private individual doing home repair, lawn care, or loading and unloading furniture. These day labor waiting areas were unregulated or "informal" labor pickup sites. Homeowners used street corner day laborers to perform tasks that they themselves were unable to do because of physical limitations or time constraints. Contractors and subcontractors frequently used street corner day laborers to hold down employment costs to enhance profits. Day laborers ("jornaleros") went to catch-out corners ("esquinas") to get a job for a day or longer. "Connected" sites were located near home improvement stores; "unconnected" sites were in locations without a designated home improvement store nearby but with high traffic flow, good visibility, and a safe means of exiting and entering the roadway. The location of street corner pickup sites was subject to change depending upon a number of factors including city regulations, police harassment, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) raids, and vehicular traffic.24
Day labor pickup sites were located throughout Atlanta, generally near areas where workers lived. Even though many pickup sites were racially segregated, a good number of them were racially mixed, especially in the late 1990s and beyond. Pickup sites in the Buford Highway corridor and the northern suburbs, for example, were comprised primarily of Latinos. Pickup sites in the urban core were comprised primarily of African Americans. This was not always the case: prior to the arrival of Latinos, African American and white men filled the majority of street corner spots, even in suburban cities such as Marietta where the sites eventually became nearly all Latino. Dynamics varied at each street site. At a site in west Atlanta near a truck depot, African American men solicited truckers with offers to help them unload cargo; near a Home Depot in posh Buckhead, Latino, African American, and white day laborers competed with each other for work while private security guards pushed all of them to the perimeter of the parking lot, away from customers; at an intown site in the southeastern quadrant of Atlanta, a federal prison served as an ominous backdrop to the men who waited for labor.
In 2004, an African American man who lived in a homeless shelter in Atlanta's urban core traveled an hour and a half by bus to suburban Marietta to wait for work at catch-out corners. He revealed why he sought work at street corners instead of labor pools: "I come all the way from Fulton County for day labor because down there in Fulton County right now I find it to be very complicated for a man to truly survive down there off what they pay you. Like they only give us like five dollars and fifty cents through the labor pool, and I don't think it's fair. I think people here on these corners, sometimes they have a better chance to deal directly with the contractor or the owner, you know, to do work, especially for a lot of owners that don't want to do [it] themselves, you know, and sometimes when we do that kind of work, they pay us a little bit better than they would if we did it through a labor service. That's why I travel here. I do that just to avoid the labor pool. Even if I come up here and I work four hours, and if I can make eight to ten dollars an hour I do better than I did for a full day service at a labor pool."25
Advantages of using catch-out corners included workers' ability to negotiate their hourly wage directly with a potential employer; wages generally three to five dollars more per hour than what workers received at labor pools; no deductions from wages for transportation costs or safety equipment fees; a more active approach to securing work compared to waiting at a labor pool; workers could conceivably work more than one job per day; workers who wished to remain anonymous or "invisible" due to their undocumented status were better able to do so. Disadvantages at street corner pickup sites included having to push and shove when competing for work; sometimes not getting paid for work performed; possibly not having workers' compensation insurance if an injury occurred; and making oneself an easy target for police and INS harassment.
At catch-out corners, some nearby business owners and residents viewed day laborers with suspicion, scorn, and fear. As a result, some city councils and county commissions passed ordinances designed to forbid day laborers from congregating in designated areas. A different tack was taken in other locations. In Duluth, the police issued identification cards for day laborers who lived within the city limits, and imposed a fine on “outsiders” who traveled there to wait for work. In Decatur, the city constructed a covered bench that provided a modicum of comfort for day laborers.
Day labor pickup sites were located throughout Atlanta, generally near areas where workers lived. Even though many pickup sites were racially segregated, a good number of them were racially mixed, especially in the late 1990s and beyond. Pickup sites in the Buford Highway corridor and the northern suburbs, for example, were comprised primarily of Latinos. Pickup sites in the urban core were comprised primarily of African Americans. This was not always the case: prior to the arrival of Latinos, African American and white men filled the majority of street corner spots, even in suburban cities such as Marietta where the sites eventually became nearly all Latino. Dynamics varied at each street site. At a site in west Atlanta near a truck depot, African American men solicited truckers with offers to help them unload cargo; near a Home Depot in posh Buckhead, Latino, African American, and white day laborers competed with each other for work while private security guards pushed all of them to the perimeter of the parking lot, away from customers; at an intown site in the southeastern quadrant of Atlanta, a federal prison served as an ominous backdrop to the men who waited for labor.
In 2004, an African American man who lived in a homeless shelter in Atlanta's urban core traveled an hour and a half by bus to suburban Marietta to wait for work at catch-out corners. He revealed why he sought work at street corners instead of labor pools: "I come all the way from Fulton County for day labor because down there in Fulton County right now I find it to be very complicated for a man to truly survive down there off what they pay you. Like they only give us like five dollars and fifty cents through the labor pool, and I don't think it's fair. I think people here on these corners, sometimes they have a better chance to deal directly with the contractor or the owner, you know, to do work, especially for a lot of owners that don't want to do [it] themselves, you know, and sometimes when we do that kind of work, they pay us a little bit better than they would if we did it through a labor service. That's why I travel here. I do that just to avoid the labor pool. Even if I come up here and I work four hours, and if I can make eight to ten dollars an hour I do better than I did for a full day service at a labor pool."25
Advantages of using catch-out corners included workers' ability to negotiate their hourly wage directly with a potential employer; wages generally three to five dollars more per hour than what workers received at labor pools; no deductions from wages for transportation costs or safety equipment fees; a more active approach to securing work compared to waiting at a labor pool; workers could conceivably work more than one job per day; workers who wished to remain anonymous or "invisible" due to their undocumented status were better able to do so. Disadvantages at street corner pickup sites included having to push and shove when competing for work; sometimes not getting paid for work performed; possibly not having workers' compensation insurance if an injury occurred; and making oneself an easy target for police and INS harassment.
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A day laborer talks about securing work at catch-out corners, (3:45 min.)
Audio interview with Terry Easton, Sarah Johnson, interpreter, April 21, 2004, Marietta, Georgia. RealMedia | Windows Media | QuickTime A day laborer talks about danger at catch-out corners, (3:11 min.) Audio interview with Terry Easton, Sarah Johnson, interpreter, April 21, 2004, Marietta, Georgia. RealMedia | Windows Media | QuickTime |
At catch-out corners, some nearby business owners and residents viewed day laborers with suspicion, scorn, and fear. As a result, some city councils and county commissions passed ordinances designed to forbid day laborers from congregating in designated areas. A different tack was taken in other locations. In Duluth, the police issued identification cards for day laborers who lived within the city limits, and imposed a fine on “outsiders” who traveled there to wait for work. In Decatur, the city constructed a covered bench that provided a modicum of comfort for day laborers.
Essay Sections:
Introduction
| International Atlanta | De-Centering the City | Labor Pools | Catch-Out Corners |
Non-Profit Hiring Halls | Workers on the Edge | Laboring for Justice | Notes | Recommended Resources
Non-Profit Hiring Halls | Workers on the Edge | Laboring for Justice | Notes | Recommended Resources
