Fernando Lopez plans to close his three local Los Angeles-area Oaxacan restaurants for the day Monday after his approximately 50 employees agreed to observe a planned immigrant rights boycott then.
"I am an immigrant too. We are all part of the community of Los Angeles and we are very united," said Lopez, 46, adding that his suppliers told him not to expect deliveries Monday.
Acknowledging the key role immigrants play in the Southern California economy, some local employers and their workers are preparing for work disruptions or shutdowns stemming from large immigrant rights actions Monday.
Some local employers say they will look the other way if their employees skip work to participate. Some restaurants, grocery stores, garment factories, farmers, meatpackers, gardeners and truckers say they plan to suspend some or all of their operations. That's out of concern about not having enough workers, or for fear of a backlash.
Some business owners, such as Lopez, will shut down out of sympathy for those protesting for greater immigrant rights.
Many businesses may not be affected. But businesses with large numbers of immigrant workers, as well as those owned by immigrants and establishments along protest routes, could be substantially affected.
All told, the effect on the local economy could be significant, business leaders say, given the widespread use of immigrant workers. More than a third of Los Angeles County's population is foreign-born, according to 2000 figures from the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit public policy research organization in Los Angeles. Informal workers, of whom many are undocumented, account for 15% of the county labor force, according to some estimates.
Monday's planned actions encompass a national boycott of work, school and consumer activity to highlight immigrants' economic power, with rallies planned in cities across the country.
In Los Angeles, a noon gathering will be followed by a march to the mid-Wilshire district. Participants also have been urged not to buy anything that day. More than 200 political, labor, business and religious groups helped organize the events.
Predictions vary widely on how many are expected to take part in the general strike. A March 25 immigrant rights rally in Los Angeles drew an estimated 500,000 people, but an April 10 demonstration attracted a far smaller crowd.
