By Town Crier Staff

The California State Assembly members recently announced their designees for “Woman of the Year.” Maria Marroquin, manager of St. Joseph the Worker Center in Mountain View, received the award from Sally Lieber, California State Assemblymember for the 22nd District.

Marroquin was recognized for her efforts to provide jobs to day workers in this area — Los Altos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, parts of San Jose, and most of Santa Clara. She has ensured hundreds of men and women the potential for a more secure future.

Lieber considers Marroquin’s work with day workers to be “a shining example of individual initiative and compassionate sensitivity.”

Day workers, who get paid on a daily or short-term basis, constitute a growing segment of the U.S. economy’s labor force. St. Joseph the Worker Center offers a safe place for workers to congregate as they wait for managers to link them with prospective employers.

Marroquin has participated for more than six years in operating the St. Joseph the Worker Center, a non-profit organization operated under the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Employers, especially home owners, come to the center to contract with day laborers to conduct work.

Marroquin came to Redwood City from Mexico City in 1996, as a single mother with a 16-year-old son. She stopped at the St. Vincent de Paul facility to seek work as a day laborer. She had success finding work that day, and on many days that followed.

As a volunteer, Marroquin maintained peace and order within the community of day workers. Out of her small wages as a housekeeper, she bought coffee and pastries from the bakery to offer solace to her friends who were waiting to be hired.

On days when no work was available, Marroquin spent her hours learning English taught by volunteers in English as a Second Language classes offered at the center. One of her current passions is to encourage other workers to learn English so as to increase their chances for success in the U.S. work force.

In May 2002, Marroquin became manager of the Mountain View facility. “Maria’s compassion for the people who want to work continues to motivate her each day. She inspires everyone around her,” said Steve Pehanich, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul.

To plead the case for day workers to have the right to request work in Los Altos and Mountain View, Marroquin attended city council and planning commission meetings. She helped unite the workers and the center with legal advocates at the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. The Palo Alto office of the international law firm Morrison & Foerster, LLP, accepted the plight of the workers as a pro bono cause. Eventually, Marroquin’s perseverance prevailed, and the day workers moved into a new building in Mountain View.

Marroquin is also working to end the discrimination and exploitation that many laborers face at the state and national levels. She and her group rallied in Sacramento for the rights of workers to obtain a driver’s license. She has even been to Washington, D.C., to address a congressional session in support of the new “Fair Treatment - Minimum Wage” Bill.

Marroquin continues her work locally to ensure that each worker is paid for his or her services, and that the working conditions for day laborers are safe.