THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510030103
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 174 lines
THE MEN GATHER in the morning, six days a week, first on Salter Street, off Princess Anne Road, along the brick wall beside the Cedar Grove Cemetery and, later, near the WTVZ-TV 33 studios and the construction site for the new city parking lot.
For these men, making a living can be especially difficult.
Eric Freeman, 37, is one of those men. When most office workers are rolling out of bed, Freeman already has hiked some three miles from the home of a friend where he stays to arrive at Salter Street by 6:45 a.m. Others already are assembled there. It's a predominantly black crowd, although a few whites show up. One woman stands at each end of the street; other than that the crowd is entirely male.
In economic terms, they are the marginally employed. They are the elasticity in the economy stretching between absolute employment, where everyone works, and ``full'' employment, defined by economists as 3 to 5 percent unemployment, an ``acceptable'' level that prevents inflation from heating up as demand for labor equals or exceeds supply.
This is Economics 101 with faces.
Some employers arrive at 6:45 to pick up workers; a car slowly driving by produces a rush to the curb as men jostle to be hired. Being driven away to a job that early is a mixed blessing; volunteers from The Norfolk Catholic Worker, a Catholic lay movement, arrive at 7 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays to serve breakfast. Those who remain, including one of the women, gather around the tables.
``One reason I'm out on `The Corner' . . . if I don't like something, I don't got to do it,'' Freeman explains. ``I can do better working on `The Corner.' I'm an easy learner, all 'round. It's every man for himself; I prefer it that way.
``Temporary companies are getting all the jobs, but they don't treat you fair. (At a former full-time job) I had a lot of responsibilities, but I didn't feel I was getting paid for it . . . felt like I was bein' used.''
Freeman and his peers haven't given up on finding work. They're not ready to join the ranks of the unemployed and fall back against the safety net of the welfare system.
They're still out there looking; their search for a job is a daily one. If a contractor, moving company, business or homeowner needs a supply of unskilled labor, they are a pool that can be drawn upon, putting them among the ranks of the employed - for the day.
After eating, the group migrates to 9th Street and Monticello Avenue, where others connect with assignments. The location harkens back to the days when the Virginia Employment Commission's Norfolk office was at 900 Granby St., in the building now occupied by WTVZ. The commission moved out on Virginia Beach Boulevard some 20 years ago. Several commercial temporary labor services have come and gone from the area. But still ``The Corner,'' as it is known, persists as one of the places in the city where employers and day laborers come together.
It is there that Freeman finds Cullen Davis, 56, an insurance executive who is restoring his Ghent home. Freeman has worked for Davis before. He grabs his bag and jumps into Davis' car.
``He's a darn good worker,'' Davis says, proceeding to launch into a list of things Freeman has done for him:
``He's cleaned lighting chandeliers, built four replacement exterior shutters, acid-cleaned, sealed and waterproofed brick walls, trimmed ivy and grass, cut grass, painted basement doors and steps, painted three stand-up cabinets and helped sheet-rock some walls.''
Davis adds that Freeman learns quickly, has proven entirely trustworthy in his home and is one of the best carpenters he has known.
The shutters show why Davis is such a supporter of the men he has hired from ``The Corner.'' Made from cut plywood, with carefully mitered trim attached and painted glossy black, the shutters look professionally done.
Such workmanship has made Davis an avid spokesman for what Freeman and the others can accomplish.
These men need someone to speak for them because they are reluctant to speak out or do anything that would draw attention to themselves.
Freeman and Davis explain there is a concern that, if attention is drawn to them, somehow the small piece of the system they have a toehold on, ``The Corner,'' might be taken away. There is a fear that the fragile link between them and those who employ them could be broken.
``Police got like that one time about a year ago,'' Freeman says, describing a perceived increase in attention paid to the men. ``A lot of guys have fear once that parking lot (the new city parking lot) is built they won't let us stand here.''
Incidents such as a WTVZ employee's broken car window, Freeman points out, can easily be blamed on the group. Such a large group of men standing around can make passers-by and those who work in the area uncomfortable, possibly leading to increased pressure to have them removed.
But police spokesman Larry Hill said that as long as the men aren't engaging in any illegal activity, the police department has no interest in them, and recent Supreme Court rulings have virtually eviscerated anti-loitering laws.
Still, such suspicions are rife among the men.
Those feelings may stem from an understanding of the fact that large numbers of idle men standing passively along thoroughfares does not fit the image in most city planners' - or politicians' - minds that a modern, thriving metropolis should project. On the other side of the coin, however, to do anything to interfere with citizens' honest efforts to earn a living is, as Walter Clough, of the city's Public Works department put it, ``to shoot oneself in the foot.''
Steve Baggarly and his wife Kim run The Norfolk Catholic Worker. They live with their 4-year-old son in a ``hospitality house,'' one of some 100 run by the movement across the United States. For six years his group has been feeding the men, currently 70 to 100 at each meal depending on the time of the month. Numerous area churches, including Sacred Heart, St. Pius X, the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, St. Bride's Episcopal, Christ the King, and St. Paul's are involved in the ministry.
Baggarly, who also provides shelter to some of the men, explains how ``everything works against these folks. It's so expensive to be poor,'' he notes. ``Lack of transportation forces them to shop at higher-priced stores. They don't have bank accounts because below a certain minimum you're penalized by heavy fees. They have to pay to get their checks cashed. Buying items over time, since they can't afford to pay for them all at once, they pay much more. Everything works against them; it's oppressive to be poor. To get a loan, to borrow money, you have to have money, and they have none.''
Freeman admits that some of those who share his corner may have criminal records, a potentially major deterrent to securing employment through the traditional, ``put-an-application-in-with-the-personnel-department'' route. Davis notes that, for some, what is earned through work secured on ``The Corner'' is drunk by day's end. Baggarly notes that, among those waiting, are many of the area's homeless, some with mental or other personal problems that prevent them from plugging more fully into the economy and the system.
As for himself, Freeman is a divorced father of three. Only a 19-year-old daughter whom he describes as ``grown'' is local; his other children - one in Georgia and one in Germany - were born while he was in the Army. He was in the service for seven years, in supply, but ``the Army changed'' and he ``couldn't take it anymore.'' Born and raised in Norfolk, he completed 11th grade at Granby High School, worked for a food distributor for a while and at a local bakery several times, learning a number of different jobs there. He felt he wasn't getting the raises he merited, so he left.
``Supply was something I really enjoy,'' he explains. ``I wouldn't mind a full-time job, but this (temporary work) has its advantages and disadvantages.''
Some employers who would pick him up pay only minimum wage, but Freeman generally won't work unless the rate is $5 or $6 an hour. The longshoremen, he says, when they need extra hands, pay $9. Some who employ him provide meals. But some, he notes, don't pay what they owe or only part of it.
Taxes aren't discussed, but the nature of the arrangements virtually assures that many of the transactions are unreported, under the table, unless the employer issues 1099's, reporting earnings to the IRS.
Work might be more steady with an established temporary agency, but Freeman is certain he does better on his own. An agency may bill an employer up to $15 an hour for such labor, but the pay to the worker is at or close to minimum wage. And, he notes, if you speak up, they can ``work around'' you, leaving you out of work for weeks.
He can't remember when he last filled out an employment application.
And so it goes, six days a week, Monday through Saturday, rain or shine, summer or winter. Freeman and the others are on ``The Corner,'' looking for an opportunity to earn a living. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
HIRED FOR A DAY
Staff photo by MARK MITCHELL
Eric Freeman, 37, is among the men who assemble each morning along
the brick wall beside Cedar Grove Cemetery.
Staff photos by MARK MITCHELL
In addition to gathering on ``The Corner'' to find temporary work,
the men line up along the Cedar Grove Cemetery wall to get breakfast
served by The Norfolk Catholic Worker.
Breakfast is served four days a week by The Norfolk Catholic Worker,
a Catholic lay movement.
Cullen Davis is among those who have found laborers on ``The
Corner'' and is complimentary of their work.
With his breakfast in hand, Dave Gungle waits by the curb with the
hope that an employer will stop by and need some work done.
KEYWORDS: TEMPORARY WORKERS JOBLESS HOMELESS INDIGENT DAY WORK by CNB