City College of New York–On a cold morning in the middle of November, over thirty women stood at the corner of Marcy and Division Streets in Brooklyn waiting for work. This is “La Parada,” as the Latinas call it, or “the stop,” and on some days as many as 150 women gather here from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. hoping to get hired for a day job.
Most are Latina, but there are also women from Poland, Montenegro, Albania and Romania. The women may be hired to do housekeeping, residential construction, or food processing. The work they’re seeking has no form of regulation. The women are vulnerable and susceptible to wage theft, injuries, and more. They work without job security, a minimum wage, or safety precautions, and that sets them apart from most workers in the United States.