Workers demand pay: Dolly clean up crews protest; some hurl rocks

BROWNSVILLE - A group of day laborers awaiting their pay grew increasingly belligerent Thursday afternoon as their employer failed to deliver thousands of dollars in wages for hurricane cleanup efforts, workers said.

More than 50 workers lined up outside an unmarked warehouse, where Chris Perez, vice president of One Force, was distributing checks. One Force employed a number of workers to clean up after Hurricane Dolly in several cities in the Rio Grande Valley.

After the second day of waiting, most workers had not received their wages. Men began hurling rocks at Perez's pickup and yelling their complaints.

"I worked for 44 hours cleaning up hurricane damage in Harlingen and South Padre Island," Daniel Salazar said. "I worked long hours and paid for my own gas, and now I'm getting nothing."

Other One Force workers received only a fraction of their wages after waiting for more than three hours on both Wednesday and Thursday, they said.

Workers now say that the company misrepresented available employment. After Hurricane Dolly hit South Texas on July 23, One Force hung a banner on Billy Mitchell Boulevard that read, "Make $ Here" and advertised jobs that would pay $10 per hour.

Some workers, like Nathan Miller of Edinburg, heard about the employment opportunity through their churches. Miller says his pastor at Wings of Mercy Church encouraged him to apply for a job that now appears like it might have been a hoax.

The Texas Department of Licensing and Registration, which must approve companies that commission temporary workers, has no record of One Force.

"As soon as we found out about these problems, we immediately began to look into what the state could do to help," state Rep. Rene Oliveira said. "Unfortunately, what we have found is a maze of companies and subsidiaries, and preliminary indications that the company may be unlicensed."

On Thursday afternoon, One Force's Perez left the warehouse in a red pickup that had been pelted by rocks thrown by angry workers.

Perez said the hold-ups were due to "computer problems and applications not being processed properly."

"We're trying to pay people," he said, "but they're getting angry."

The Department of Licensing and Regulation received a complaint against the company on Thursday and began an investigation in its enforcement division.

Neither the City of Brownsville nor Cameron County confirmed that it had employed One Force for Hurricane Dolly cleanup efforts. It is possible, however, that the company was contracted to supply workers by another company that received a government contract. Without a business license in the state of Texas, both One Force and the entity that awarded it a contact could be held responsible.

Workers may call the Texas Workforce Commission's Wage and Labor Law Department at (800) 832-9243.