Home » An Inauguration Day well spent with day laborer organizer Pablo Alvarado – Jobsmaa.com

An Inauguration Day well spent with day laborer organizer Pablo Alvarado – Jobsmaa.com

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A man I wanted to be with during Donald Trump's inauguration was getting ready to play some cumbia when I met him outside a Pasadena community work center.

Pablo Alvarado is the Co-Executive Director of the National Day Labor Organization Network known as NDLON. 58 years old from El Salvador A legend in the local immigrant rights movementHe organized soccer leagues in LA factories in the 1990s so Latin American workers from different countries could abandon jingoistic rivalries to unite under their common struggles.

A former day laborer, he has helped put NDLON at the spearhead in almost every battle. On behalf of undocumented people In California and beyond, everything from sanctuary city and state laws to evicting immigration agents from local jails. If anyone has advice on how to stand up to Trump and his promised crackdown on illegal immigration, it's Alvarado — even now, after the disaster. Eaton Fire.

He and his family were forced to evacuate their Pasadena home when the smoke and ash became unbearable. The next day, he organized Journaleros – Daily laborers – as volunteers Fires clear debris from lawns, streets and driveways. Videos of their intense, joyful efforts soon went viral, attracting international coverage and a strong counterpoint to Trump's racist insults.

A promised sit-down interview was pushed back and forth until friends said the best way to talk to Alvarado was to see him in action. So, I joined him on the inauguration day along with workers, volunteers and others.

First, he wanted everyone to dance to NDLON's house band. Los jornaleros del norte. For 30 years now, they've been a regular at immigrant rights rallies in Southern California, reminding us to enjoy the good in life and not dwell on the bad.

Clad in jeans, work boots, a flannel, a black hat and a T-shirt that read “Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo” (Only the people can save the people), Alvarado laid down some standard bass lines. The singers blared out the grim music of protest and exploitation. An accordionist inspired the crowd of about 150 to dance, clap or chirp in approval.

“Of course he plays bass,” Hector Flores gushed. A member Eastside band Los CafeterasFlores was there to volunteer — first, helping a friend from Fresno with luxury portable toilets.

“The bass sets the foundation — it's the anchor that lets everyone else shine,” Flores explained. “That's Pablo, I like to be with people like that.”

Los Jornaleros del Norte finished their short, lively set, and then the bassist spoke.

Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Labor Organizing Network, plays Bass.

Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Labor Organizer Network, plays bass before organizing supply chains with volunteers for victims of the Eaton fire at the Pasadena Community Work Center on Inauguration Day.

(Carlyn Steele/For The Times)

At exactly 9 am, Trump was taking the oath of office For the second time, Alvarado has asked workers to stand behind him — literally and figuratively — and soon pledge to deploy troops to the border to “repeal the disastrous invasion of our country.”

“Come fearlessly with your tools,” he requested in Spanish. His voice was calm and steady. About 30 people stepped forward. “Let's raise those hands!”

Switched to English. “Let's lift them up with some pride, because these Hands on rebuilding LA

Alvarado warned that there would be difficult days ahead, with the dual power of a new president Hostility to poor immigrants from Latin America, With the enormous task of rebuilding from the Eaton and Palisades fires.

“Today, it's your inauguration,” Alvarado cheered, finally cracking a smile. “And daily wage earners are the president of this country. ¡Que viva el pueblo immigrante!”

Later, people split into cleaning forces or started organizing supply chains. Well-wishers flocked to congratulate Alvarado, including Pasadena resident Florence Annung.

“Pablo is like the Tasmanian Devil, but makes good trouble everywhere,” said Annung, a member of Pasadena's police oversight board. In 2020, NDLON marched with Annung and others To commemorate the killing of George Floyd.

“He will encourage people to join the journey of justice,” he added. “He's letting them know it's long, but we've got to get it, too.”

Alvarado eventually broke away from the crowd and went into the job center to check on NDLON's plans for the day. Work tools, poster boards, pizza boxes and cold coffee crowded the space.

An employee placed Ray-Ban sunglasses on Alvarado. They were recorded by a hidden video camera. “This way,” Alvarado said with a broad smile, “we can catch employers who don't pay.”

We went outside to chat briefly. Volunteers passed us with board jacks. The ruins were a few miles up Lake Avenue, but we could smell them. “I lost track of time,” he admitted. “But what I'm going through is nothing like what everyone has to deal with.”

He personally knows at least 50 families who lost their homes in the Eaton fire, as well as “hundreds” of workers across Southern California whose homes they served in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena are now gone.

Trump's inauguration couldn't have happened at a worse time for NDLON — yet Alvarado said it would be a perfect opportunity to show opponents how to stand up to the new president.

“What protest is going to take place,” he said, pointing to the scene before us, “it must be like this.”

Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director and volunteer at the National Day Labor Organizer Network

Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Labor Organizer Network, greets volunteer Annie Corcoran outside the Pasadena Community Work Center on Inauguration Day. A Long Beach resident has joined her Orange County hiking group to help clean up the streets of Pasadena.

(Carlyn Steele/For The Times)

I asked what the rest of us could learn from his decades in the proverbial trenches.

“Do not despair. When there's a crisis like this or what's ahead, take it one step at a time,” he said. “It's always very difficult how you plan in uncertain times. But one thing I've learned is that if you follow the greater good — if you follow your heart — nothing can go wrong.

It's an easy answer, I suggested, especially when Trump wants to make life miserable for the people Alvarado has spent most of his life advocating.

“I tell you it never fails,” he replied calmly. “Look around us.”

More volunteers waited for orders. More trucks came with more cargo. More and more benefits.

“It's very beautiful,” Alvarado continued. “People who never knew each other are now in the same boat. The other day, our guys worked with five guys in MAGA hats in Central Park [in Pasadena]. To do the work an organizer does, you have to believe in people's ability to change. People i will eat change.”

I mentioned that Trump is expected to visit the Altadena area on Friday. What will he ask of the new president?

“This should be a conversation, not a question,” Alvarado replied. “If he's here, I'll ask him to use a shovel for the first time in his life and start cleaning.”

He laughed, then turned serious. “I would tell him that if he wants to improve this country, he should not only help the humblest among us but give them rights. That's how you improve the world.”

Annie Corcoran of Long Beach came to congratulate Alvarado. The teacher at Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac School in Tustin had never heard of NDLON until a member of her hiking group volunteered. Corcoran was helping out that morning and wanted to hold a fundraiser at her school for the group.

“He has integrity,” she said. “Nowadays we see that much less. And people like Pablo need months, years.

While she and I were talking, Alvarado left. I found him across the street in a parking lot that had been converted into a drive-thru donation pickup for fire survivors. A line of cars — BMWs, Nissans, flashy SUVs, beat-up sedans — was circling the lake, even though the giveaway didn't start for another 15 minutes.

“It looks like anarchy, but there is order,” he said. “When you have situations like this, people find out.”

As we drove back to NDLON's headquarters, Alvarado noticed a sharply dressed group handing out business cards and flyers to survivors idling in their cars. One wore a Gucci belt. For the first time all morning, Alvarado frowned.

“If you're looking for lawsuits, that's going to be a problem for us,” he told them. They denied that they were trying to prosecute. He was not convinced – “This is not the time for that. I don't like it”

He waved in the parking lot. “It's a beautiful operation. It's not a business.

One of them asked if they were being kicked out. Alvarado shook his head. “It's your right to be here,” he said. “But I don't think you should take advantage of people at a moment like this. It is your choice.”

After a few minutes, the men packed up and left.

Delma Moreno signs a mural outside the Pasadena Social Work Center

Delma Moreno signs a mural outside a Pasadena Community Work Center after a rally for immigrant and undocumented worker rights on Inauguration Day.

(Carlyn Steele/For The Times)

Pasadena Councilman Tyrone Hampton stopped to hug Alvarado. They have known each other for over a decade. They spoke in front of a newly painted mural Journaleros With the same legend as Alvarado's T-shirt: “Solo el Pueblo Salva al Pueblo.” Workers signed the mural as taco trucks set up to hand out free lunches.

“When I think about Pasadena helping,” Hampton said, “I think about Pablo.”

As Hampton spoke, Alvarado had already become the next.

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