People tend to complain about the day laborers who loiter downtown waiting for work to come their way in the form of a driver who pulls up and whisks them away, maybe for pay but often just to get ripped off for their labor. The workers I'm talking about are the scavengers, who sift the leavings of the employed for any valuable scraps of metal.
They arrive on my block in trucks, on bikes, on foot in increasing numbers. Picking through garbage, they pluck out soda cans. They rip wires off castoff appliances and smash old television sets for the innards. Even the metal part of a mop is harvested, and old metal shelves become a bonanza.
One person who lives on Block 832 has turned his yard into a mini-transfer station. He diligently smashes up objects with a sledgehammer for a full 8-hour day or more, saving the salable bits.
Even when I don't see them, I can hear, at any hour of the day or night, the crunch of cans underfoot and the clink of bags being filled.
They compete for this work, sometimes making their rounds after midnight to be first in the Dumpster, but also rifling through trash receptacles downtown while the general population is shopping.
What does this say about the state of our local economy? These workers are trying to do for self in a way that only the desperate would embrace. What stands in the way of their getting paid employment here? That is a question I am pondering on this Labor Day weekend.
--Bernice
There's also the guy who rides his bike around complete with five gallon buckets and cleaning supplies. He goes to businesses throughout the city and cleans windows. Others sweep sidewalks in front of the businesses for money. There's a whole bunch of folks out there doing just about anything they can to scrape by.
ReplyDeleteIt has been proven extremely difficult for folks to get back into the workforce if they have been out of it for a long time, but it can be done and has been done successfully. Clearly, re-employment orientation programs, job training for youth, training for those in re-entry programs, getting commercial development to provide sustainable jobs, and working with employers who are looking for workers are part of the key to success. Workforce investment and development are key goals of any city.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the county's One Stop Center is located right here, and it has programs for training young people. Also, the mayor's recent job fair with the USPS was very well-attended and successful--some of my friends heard about it through Facebook (I, among others, blasted it all over Facebook) as well as more traditional sources--the city's website, the robocall, etc. Some of them went down, applied for the jobs, and already have interviews. Along with others, we also let folks know about upcoming opportunities with FedEx, and folks are in contact with other employers to aggressively tackle unemployment and underemployment in our city by bringing more job fairs. This illustrates the increasing importance of social media in terms of getting the word out. Our young people communicate through Facebook and certainly Twitter--Newark has a "TweetMyJobs" service that allows potential workers to be matched with jobs. This is something Plainfield can use as well. Bringing more employers to Plainfield and hosting more job fairs will help. Of course, this must be done in conjunction with having more economic development here--in a city the size of Plainfield, the majority of workers will still commute to other places to work (that's true of all cities our size), but it is possible to bring more jobs here.
For those of us committed to having successful re-entry programs, one of the Union County programs is "ReConnections," which works to provide job skills and training to formerly incarcerated individuals--this program is at Plainfield's One-Stop--one of the partners is Union County College. Since Plainfield is a small city with limited resources, we can't do it alone, but we must do our best to get the word out--in conjunction with the school district and all the other partners. Now that the Opportunity to Compete legislation has passed (you will remember that we passed a resolution in support of "ban-the-box" last year), formerly incarcerated folks are able to apply for jobs without having to check the box, but it is our duty to make sure the jobs are there for them. This is one of many important initiatives that we can support as we move toward the vision of One Plainfield, One Future.
Rebecca
Does anyone know how many Plainfield residents attended the USPS Job fair? Or, as a result of the fair, how many Plainfield residents were offered interview?
DeleteRestoring 100% health care services at the Muhlenberg makes sense for Plainfield. Plainfield lost 1000 jobs.
ReplyDeleteAny type of housing on that site, unless it is full-care nursing home, will not provide many jobs and will destroy the surrounding neighborhood and property values. Property values are plummeting in Plainfield as it is, we don't need more low-cost apartments in the city.
All anyone talks about in "economic development" in town is apartments, and more apartments. This is land development which will cost Plainfield money and will provide few jobs.
Great blog, Bernice. Hopefully, the job fair provided a few jobs to the people in Plainfield. Perhaps the mayor can host another at some later date? At least it provides an avenue to get in front of an employer.
ReplyDelete