Day labor lotto

C. TAYLOR

A Casa Latina dispatcher handles job requests.

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• Belltown
• Peter Erickson
• Hilary Stern
• Belltown Business Association
• Gretchen Apgar

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As the hours pass and 8 o'clock approaches, the atmosphere becomes more frantic. Cell phones start buzzing and trucks begin arriving. Jose, a worker who has taken on a leadership position, calls out four names. There's a job moving furniture in a downtown office building. Four more names ring out—another moving job. An apartment building on Queen Anne calls. It wants two landscapers for $8 an hour, two dollars an hour less than the wage scale specifies. Jose puts it to the workers next on the list. Will they take it? They will.

Suddenly, a commotion ensues on the street. A white truck has pulled up next to the center and workers have surrounded it without waiting for management to negotiate the transaction. It's hard to tell if the workers are from the center or from the street, but one is in the process of jumping in when Jose rushes in to stop him. He installs Carlos in the truck instead. Carlos is the former alcoholic who talked about the need for protection, and at least for today he has found some.