By Linda Taaffe

Jose Corona of the United Farm Worker’s Union from Watsonville joins about 100 day workers in Mountain View during a statewide protest against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent repeal of a law that would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

Mountain View’s Latino community is calling Friday’s statewide economic boycott a moral victory. Strike organizers Monday were still sorting through the economic impacts that the one-day event had on the community, but estimated that hundreds of local Latinos voluntarily took a day off from shopping, attending school and contributing to the work force as part of a protest against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s repeal of SB60, which would have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. Nearly 20 cities from Medicino County to Los Angeles participated in the event, including 10 cities from the greater Bay Area.

Mountain View day laborers lined up along El Camino Friday, but not to look for work. From the early morning commute to dusk, abut 100 workers held signs - “We are not terrorists” - protesting the repealed law.

A strip mall with mostly Latino-owned shops and restaurants on California Street and Showers Drive remained closed for the day. The work crew at nearby Costco was slimmer than normal, according to strike organizers.

The number of students absent at the Mountain View-Whisman Union School District, where about 40 percent of the 4,500 students are Latino, was higher than average, according to district officials, who were unable to release any preliminary numbers Monday.

“There was definitely a higher than average number of absences. They were probably (related to Friday’s boycott) … unless there was a severe flu outbreak,” a spokeswoman said.

The district stands to lose about $30 in government funding per unexcused absence, she added. Organizers estimated that about 90 percent of the county’s Latino students remained home from school.

Many restaurant owners braced for the worst in Los Altos, but most employees reported to work and no downtown restaurants reported closing for business.

The impacts of Friday’s strike may have been subtle, but the consortium of Latino rights and service organizations that helped organize the event warn that there are more boycotts planned.

“This is the first time we planned a statewide strike, but it is not going to be the last,” said Maria Marroquin, a strike organizer from the dayworker center at Mountain View’s Calvary Church. “This is a test to show how important Latinos are. The repeal of the driver’s license law was just another example of the lack of respect shown for Latinos in California by our lawmakers.

“We contribute to the California economy in major ways through our work and through our spending. Yet, with an issue as basic as driver’s licenses, we are treated like terrorists.”

One laborer, who only gave his last name Martinez, said missing a day of wages would be difficult, but joining the protest would be better in the bigger picture.

As an illegal immigrant who has lived in California for about one year earning money for his wife and children in Mexico, Martinez hoped the protest would help bring more civil liberties to workers in his position.

Strike organizers said a car is often the only way laborers are able to maintain a job. Driving is a necessity, especially for house cleaners or gardeners who must travel from house to house, organizers said.

“I see the driver’s license as a safety (issue) for all Californians, for our children. Giving a driver’s license to all (immigrants) is safer for everybody … Everybody can get insurance and be responsible … or (workers) will drive without it to get to their jobs,” Marroquin said.

The strike hit California during a time when Latino spending power is increasing nationwide, the tortilla shell recently surpassed sliced bread in sales and big corporations have began spending tens of millions of dollars on the Latino marketing niche.

According to the 2000 Census, Latinos spend about $500 billion a year.

One in every four California consumers is of Hispanic descent. This equals about 7 percent of the state’s consumer spending, according to the 2000 Census.

In Santa Clara County, 24 percent of the population is Latino.