Silvercool Service Co. didn’t get much roofing done Monday.
That’s because two-thirds of the Commerce City company’s 30 workers went to an immigration rally in Denver.
Silvercool president Jeanette Blanco-Wellers said workers called her Sunday to ask if they could go to the rally. An immigrant from El Salvador, Blanco- Wellers couldn’t say no.
“I said, ‘Go if you want to go. I would go, but I don’t have the time,”‘ she said.
Thousands of people – many of them Mexicans and Mexican-Americans – rallied in Denver and other Colorado cities Monday to protest proposals to stiffen federal immigration laws.
The demonstration resulted in some absenteeism but not a widespread labor shortage.
The Mountain States Employers Council advised companies not to take extreme measures to keep people at work.
“Most employers are treating it like any other miscellaneous absence,” said Tim Settle, the group’s director of employment-law services. “I don’t think anyone wants to be heavy-handed about it.”
Rallies across the country were the latest in a series of immigration demonstrations. Organizers say a larger protest is planned for May 1.
On Monday, protesters decried a U.S. House bill that would make illegal immigration a felony.
“We aren’t criminals. We just want to work,” said Felix Gatica, 22.
Gatica and his co-workers at an Aurora fast-food restaurant got permission from their boss to take the day off.
One of the protesters’ messages was that the U.S. economy depends on them.
“Without us, what would Americans do? We do the dirty work,” said construction worker Saul Ramirez, 24.
Monday is typically a slow day in the restaurant business, so employers were probably able to find replacements, said Pete Meersman, president of the Colorado Restaurant Association.
The Service Employees International Union, which helped organize the Denver rally, encouraged members to attend if they weren’t scheduled to work, said Mitch Ackerman, president of Local 105.
Some construction contractors were short of workers, said Helga Grunerud, executive director for the Hispanic Contractors of Colorado.
“We have gotten calls from people who wanted to know where to get laborers because none of their people showed up,” she said.
Staff writer Greg Griffin can be reached at 303-820-1241 or ggriffin@denverpost.com.
