The challenge

As an immigrant worker from El Salvador, Pablo Alvarado has a special connection to predominantly poor, Latin American immigrants who have traveled far from homes in search of work to support their families. These are the people who wait on street corners, in parking lots or in parks hoping for temporary employment – which is usually hard physical labor. Their average monthly earnings range from $350 to $1,000. They suffer discrimination, unsafe working conditions, and underpayment or nonpayment for their work, and many live in fear of deportation. Also, in many parts of the country, new civic ordinances prevent day laborers from soliciting work in public places. Day laborers are frequent targets of violence and law enforcement hostility.

Seeds of commitment

In El Salvador, Pablo Alvarado’s family members were farmers who grew beans, corn, and coffee for their own use. His father hauled water every day from a nearby town to sell in their village. At harvest time, young Pablo worked 10 hours a day at nearby coffee plantations to buy his clothes and school supplies. Although his mother never went to school, and his father only attended as far as the third grade, Alvarado's parents insisted that he and his siblings get an education.

In the midst of civil war, when he was 12 years old, he became a teaching assistant for a literacy class, serving his neighbors, and witnessed the power of education to bring social improvement and better living conditions. "On my way to and from school, I would walk over bodies, which were left on the side of the road. When I was in eighth grade, several teachers were killed and others fled because they were accused of being guerrilla sympathizers," Alvarado recalls. "A neighbor's son was killed by the death squads, and his mother came to our house in the middle of the night. … I remember my father, who wanted to help, could not because he feared that by doing so he would put his family at risk. It was a decisive moment in my life."

At 16, Alvarado used his communications skills to serve as a lay preacher. His teachings contained elements of Liberation Theology, applying the gospels to current socio-economic and political struggles. He earned a high-school teaching credential in 1989 from Universidad de El Salvador, but “just as many immigrants have done, I fled my country because of political and economic reasons.” Working as an undocumented immigrant in the United States, he toiled as a gardener, factory assembly line worker, driver and painter, and experienced the pain of isolation and discrimination. While working at a studio-equipment factory, he witnessed hostility between Salvadorans and Mexicans. “Drawing on my childhood experiences, I engaged other co-workers and organized a soccer team that greatly improved relations among workers.” That was the beginning of his leadership in the United States. “The soccer experience is now part of the national movement, as day laborers in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. have created their own soccer leagues,” he says.

Accomplishments

Alvarado volunteered from 1991 to 1995 as program coordinator for the Institute of Popular Education of Southern California (IDEPSCA), where he developed and implemented literacy programs for immigrants. Pablo is one of the only two founding member of IDEPSCA who remain in the organization. He also published a community newsletter, and began organizing day laborers in Pasadena. As a result of this work, a day-labor worker center eventually was established. From 1995 to 2002, he was lead coordinator for the Day Labor Project for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. He managed three hiring sites, where he helped create educational, recreational and cultural programs for workers and neighborhood residents.

In 2002, Alvarado became the national coordinator of the newly created National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), currently a collaboration of about three dozen community-based day laborer organizations. "Most of the issues immigrants face are not just local issues," Alvarado says. "They require broad-based strategizing and organizing. With NDLON, when day laborers are attacked, they are no longer on their own; there is a national community supporting them." Under his guidance, NDLON works with local governments to help establish worker centers to move job seekers into places of safety. There, they learn how to handle exploitation, improve skills and gain access to essential services. NDLON's strengthens and expands local worker groups, and builds immigrant leadership, by acting as a central resource for information. Regular telephone conferences and personal visits keep leaders informed.

“I was part of an effort that struck down an anti-solicitation ordinance in Los Angeles County. Because of this victory, in 2000, over 25,000 day laborers in Los Angeles continue to solicit employment in public places," he says. NDLON has made four additional legal challenges to similar ordinances around the country. He played a fundamental role in the creation of seven day-worker centers funded by the City of Los Angeles, and worked with the University of California, Los Angeles, to develop a first-of-its-kind national survey of day laborers. Alvarado also is working with labor unions to improve their relations with immigrants.

Leadership style

Alvarado’s strategy incorporates a range of leadership tools, including organizing (building power), litigation and policy (fighting anti-day laborer ordinances and promoting legalization and fair-labor laws), education and training (creation of worker-run centers), public awareness and media (changing public perception of day laborers), as well as cultural fusion (a day-laborer band and soccer leagues). He insists that the network of member organizations be run democratically.

Some of his organizing techniques are unusual, but effective. Besides soccer teams, his organization also sponsors chess teams, marathon races, and popular theater. "On the street corners, workers start by relating to each other as competition (for jobs)," Alvarado explains. "When brought together on a soccer field, their dynamic changes to camaraderie, which then extends back to organizing on the street corners.” Alvarado also helped form Los Jornaleros del Norte, a band made up of day laborers; the musicians have produced two CDs of songs reflecting their daily experiences as laborers. In addition, he assembled two CDs of music from day laborers around the country. "There's no movement without culture," Alvarado says. "You take the soul out of a movement if the music is taken away. The work isn't all about fighting." His leadership does not end with his day job. Alvarado also is a community leader in Pasadena, where he lives. There, he is active in the Association of Latino Parents in Education and he worked locally to improve Latino return rates in the 2000 Census.

The future

One of Alvarado's next challenges is to create a network of allies -- including clergy members, immigrant-rights groups, labor groups, neighborhood organizations and others -- to create a stronger response to the injustices committed against day workers. He is currently working with several members of congress to secure the passage of the National Day Laborer Fairness and Protection Act, which would ensure safe and healthy work environments for all day laborers. He pledges to work for day laborers for as long as it takes to ensure that each is accepted as a member of the community, with full rights and responsibilities, "just like any other human being."

More about Pablo Alvarado and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network

"He allows people to see that the day laborers are like everyone else, with the same dreams of raising and supporting a family."
– Marlom Portillo, Lead Program Coordinator for Institute of Popular Education of Southern California, and NDLON coordinating committee member