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Macehualli Day Labor Center Celebrates Sixth Anniversary,
Endures
By Eduardo Barraza
BARRIOZONA
January 31, 2009
Phoenix, Arizona - Day laborers of the Macehualli Labor Center celebrated the sixth anniversary of the space where they
gather every day hoping to find temporary work. About 200 people between guests and workers attended the celebration
of the controversial center that has not only attracted day laborers but also groups that oppose its operations.
Macehaulli is located in Northeast Phoenix, in an area known as Palomino, and it is a meeting place where workers
without permanent employment offer their skills to individuals and employers who are in need of temporary help.
The center was established in 2003 to provide a formal site where day laborers would be able to solicit work, and to keep
them off sidewalks and areas surrounding the neighborhood’s businesses. However, before and after its opening, the
center became a focus of both approval and criticism.
While business owners and area residents in Palomino welcomed the Macehualli Center as a beneficial factor, groups
who oppose undocumented immigration consider the center a magnet for individuals looking for employment without a
work permit.
“This center has been a unifying center that has brought this neighborhood and community together,” said Salvador Reza,
coordinator of the Macehualli Center, and organizer of the Phoenix-based labor and human rights movement called
Puente.
Reza was the driving force behind the creation of the center, having worked with public officials, business owners and
workers to promote negotiations for approximately two years, before an operation’s permit and funding for the
construction of the center was granted.
At least since 2005, though sporadically, groups of armed Minutemen began showing up at the Macehualli Center with U.
S. flags, photo and video cameras. Besides harassing, intimidating and obstructing the day labor center’s operations,
their intent has been to document the interactions between workers and employers, as well as report their information to
authorities and post it on Internet sites.
As a result of a series of weekly demonstrations between October and December of 2007 —organized by Reza and the
so called 35th Street and Thomas Organizing Committee— groups of Minutemen have been protesting outside the day
labor center since January of 2008. Members of some of these groups showed up for the sixth anniversary celebration.
The nine weekly protests that brought the immigration debate to the streets of Phoenix, and generated a volatile social
atmosphere of verbal confrontations, were intended to force the owners of a furniture store in East Phoenix to stop hiring
off-duty Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies to supposedly keep off day laborers from the store’s area.
In spite of the continuous presence of Minutemen outside the center, and their expressed intention to close it down, the
day labor gathering place has endured the vigilantes’ pressure upon its operations. However, according to Reza, the flow
of work has decreased for day laborers.
“The main effect is that jobs have decreased,” stated Reza to BARRIOZONA, “but not just because of the Minutemen, but
also because of the effect absurd laws have had on the economy, laws such as the employer sanctions law, and the anti-
smuggler law. So many absurd laws that were enacted have had a damaging effect on the economy, because without the
worker there is no money for the state either.”
Rafael Martinez, a day laborer native of El Salvador who claims to have gathered at the Macehualli Center for six years,
think the Minutemen’s presence outside has not had an effect on his ability to find work. “I can say that it has not affected
me personally at all; I think it has not affected anybody else,” said Martinez.
For Aurelio Hernandez, a native of Mexico who states he has been coming to the day labor center for the last six months,
the situation seems to be different. “Three years ago everything was working out just fine, but for the last year and a half
everything has collapsed; with the Minutemen this has become a mess, and they don’t even let you work and make a
living,” said Hernandez.
In spite of the controversy surrounding the Macehualli, the center has been able to overcome the challenges posed by the
current economic situation, and the constant harassment of the groups of vigilantes, and there are plans to build a formal
building that will offer more services to residents of Palomino.
“We want to purchase this property,” revealed Reza, “and to build a community center that meets all the needs of the
community; health care, educational, and recreational needs. A center that serves the entire community.”
In celebrating its sixth anniversary with Aztec dances and ceremonies, music and food, the Macehualli Center has proved
to be a social valve that channels the flow of day labor, organizing and coordinating workers so they can solicit work safely
and with some protection.
At the same time, the center has become a symbol of work and dignity for many, and of scorn and harassment for others,
and it exemplifies the constant conflict between a nation that benefits from cheap labor, and the day laborer who works in
the shadows, without any employment benefits or recognition for his hard work.
Copyright © 2009 Hispanic Institute of Social Issues
Grassroots Journalism
www.barriozona.com
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Controversial gathering point for day laborers persists in spite of opposition.