Oakland Worker’s Collective

I picked up two workers who were strong and worked carefully and quickly– to unpack my moving van.
I recommend them highly.
I really like that all the $$ goes to the workers.
Only thing I would have changed-​It was hard to arrange the pickup and delivery of the men… with my two seater van.

Never thought I will be leaving this place a bad review but an employee named Samantha pushed me to the limits. I had called Samantha more then 3 weeks ago to place orders for workers to help with moving, house cleaning. On day one, I was greeted by Samantha very well and professionally and felt good about the way she handled my request. Then she said, she will email me a confirmation by email and thanked me for a good amount of notice. I waited few days and never received an email confirmation so I called her office few times in few days but no response and then boom, one day they picked up… Samantha again, I explained that I never received an email from her but more importantly I asked if she can extend the original date out for the moving/​cleaning order as the house wasn’t ready where I was moving to; something the landlord nor I could control, carpet installation was delayed. She said okay and I thought all was good as her assistant called me up days after that conversation and tried reconfirming. Before the assistant got off the phone, she said same as Samantha, an email confirmation will come to me as this time around, all the location addresses and times/​dates were taken down on her end. At this time, there were 3 work orders. Then again same thing; no email, no one answering my calls for few days and then yesterday, I decided to call from a totally different # (my car phone) as the need for workers date was coming up close and guess what, Samantha answered the phone showing me anger, frustration that I caught her and blaming me that their policy changed and now they will only offer workers in Oakland and not Fremont or Dublin where I needed the workers. Like it was my fault! Here I was, waiting almost 3 weeks to hear this! Then she complained that I was penny pinching when I agreed to pay cleaners $ 20 an hour for min 3 hrs and $ 15 an hour for 2 workers for moving and initially she asked I pickup the workers from a nearby Bart which I agreed for the Fremont project and she agreed that the Dublin project cleaners will drive to the location as they will have cleaners and equipment to clean home which I was given a choice to use my cleaners or cleaners bring their own but I preferred they bring theirs and she agreed. Yesterday she even blamed me that I was to pick the cleaners up from Bart and provide cleaning tools. When I tried to clarify the conversation we had before, she got very confrontational with me and said she was not my employee and don’t need to listen to me and she is cancelling all my 3 orders and the 2 new ones I was about to give her, total 5 orders as she said she cannot provide services to me anymore, leaving me hanging last minute strangled to start looking all over again! Samantha even said after letting me know she was cancelling, that she was hanging up on me and she did! How wrong and unprofessional was that??? I could not believe that a non-​profit organization whose aim is to help the less fortunate workers who entered our country, make a living, can be that unprofessional! Seriously, I hope someone take some action on Samantha and how she runs her business. VERY VERY SAD case!

I needed a couple of guys to help with a house move. I was glad to hear of the collective, because I didn’t want to just hire some random help off CL or something.
A couple of guys duly arrived, one of whom was fully bilingual which was a relief, because I don’t speak a word of Spanish. He acted as a translator for the other guy who had a tough time with my Limey accent and «Argh, I’m stressed and I talk too fast» delivery — and that was fine. :)
They worked their buns off, even when it became apparent that the job was going to run several houes longer than planned. Of course, I tipped them lavishly. Totally worth it.
Only reason for four stars and not five is that the office was a little slow to respond to emails — I kept having to prod them every few days seeking updates, but it worked out in the end.

I wish I had known about the Worker’s Collective earlier. I waited until I was moving out and setting up my house as a rental to get all the things I needed done — and it’s a long list. Everything from putting up shed siding, to clearing drains, to installing floor transitions.
I asked for a general handyman and worked with Jose for several days. He is amazing! Courteous, conscientious, and listens to what I want. If he’s not able to do something, he lets me know and offers a different solution. He cleaned up after every job and left the area cleaner than when he started. I will continue to call him for any future job. A thousand stars for Jose.
On the front office end: I used the online form about a week before I needed the worker but I didn’t receive an email response until almost the day before I stated I needed help. I’ve also called a few times and have never spoken to a person. I recently tried to hire another worker with a different skillset and haven’t heard back. I definitely understand that there are limitations with non-​profit staffing and resources; I’ve been a part of staff like that — I def get it. But a better response time (even just a quick «sorry no one is available») would actually be in better service of the workers. It would really suck if folks weren’t getting jobs because of poor staff management. 3 stars for the front office.
That being said though, I imagine that the staff is doing other kinds of programming since workers in the collective have meetings and continuing education that the organization provides. I’m willing to put up with some of the difficult parts in order to support a community and mission I believe in.

I needed help loading a Uhaul for a cross-​country move, and rather than hire random day laborers or use a moving company where the boss takes most of the $$ and the workers get stiffed, I thought I would use OWC. I knew my $ 15/​hr would go directly in the workers’ pocket, and I figured that OWC would have a reputation to maintain, so I wouldn’t be facing the roll-​of-​the-​dice (crazy? criminal? lazy?) that comes with hiring guys off the street.
So I arranged to hire two guys at $ 15 an hour, plus pizza, plus tip. I hired the workers sight unseen, as per OWC’s policy, but again, I assumed that having a reputation to maintain, OWC would give me some good workers.
I pulled up (I also had to pick the workers up, per OWC’s policy) to find an enormously fat kid of maybe 19, and a 50+ year old man with a heavy limp and a hacking cough. The fat kid spoke not a word of English, and the old guy spoke very little. This despite the fact that the contract I signed stated that the workers would speak functional English. To provide an example of the problems the language barrier caused: I spent a good 5 minutes carefully and slowly explaining (with gestures!) to the workers that I needed them to rope off sections of the truck as they worked, to keep things from shifting around. Came back 10 minutes later to find the rope balled up and tossed way in the back of the truck.
The massively overweight kid worked hard for about 30 minutes, dragged ass for another hour and a half (sneaking off to check his cellphone every 5 minutes), and then tapped out after eating the pizza I ordered for lunch. Said his heart was hurting. I let him go with $ 40, feeling like a sucker.
So that left me with the limping, coughing grandpa. Who worked as hard as was able, which unfortunately wasn’t hard enough. After 5 hours he stopped working and very anxiously tried to explain something to me. With a lot of back and forth, straining the limits of my highschool Spanish, I came to understand that he had another job to go to, clear across Oakland, and that I was expected to drive him there.
???
So I called the OWC office, trying to figure out what was going on. They got really pissy with me, and claimed that since I had kept the old guy longer than originally agreed, I was morally obligated to drive him to his next job.
NEVER FREAKING MIND THAT THE ONLY REASON I KEPT HIM LATER THAN ORIGINALLY AGREED WAS BECAUSE THEIR OTHER WORKER CRAPPED OUT AFTER 30 MINUTES!
But, fuck it, I’m a bleeding heart liberal, and I didn’t want the old guy to lose his regular dish washing job. So, on my big moving day, with only ³⁄₄ of my stuff loaded onto the truck, I drove this guy clear across Oakland to his other job. And paid him $ 90 with tip.
And so, after a long and frustrating day, $ 130 poorer, I drove back to my place and loaded up the rest of the stuff on my own. Didn’t finish by 12 that night, so I had to pay for another day’s rent on my apartment. Because things weren’t loaded properly, and weren’t roped off, we lost a table, a dresser, and two lamps in the move. All in all a miserable failure.

EXCELLENT. It was spring and time to plant, but our backyard was so overgrown that I did not know where to start. I hired skilled landscaper /​gardeners from OWC who whipped it into shape in an afternoon. (See photos of vegetable beds BEFORE and AFTER.) These guys were hardworking and clearly knowledgable. After they were done, they found brooms and swept the patio and steps. I didn’t even ask. Everything was left shipshape. Because I requested for skilled workers, I was charged a very fair $ 17 per hour. I paid them $ 20 /​hr and it was still a great deal and I felt they earned every penny. It was easy to request their services online and I got a follow up email soon after. I requested the workers and I get each other’s phone numbers which I recommend. We will definitely use OWC again.

I hate to ding a non-​profit with a laudable goal, but the office at OWC is so dysfunctional, I just cannot recommend them. Every single time I’ve tried to schedule workers has required numerous emails, phone calls and rescheduling.
This time, I was sitting waiting for a half an hour before I realized that no one was showing up. I finally called them to see what was going on and instead of being apologetic, I was given a long lecture about how I didn’t support their political perspective and really, the didn’t need people like me to hire their workers (because I pointed out that a last minute email about a $ 5/​hr increase wasn’t professional).
The workers themselves were good and really deserve better representation.

I’m 65 and needed help with re-​framing, repairing and replacing a roof on a 12 X 17 foot out building. I’ve worked pretty steady since 15 and Jose is one of the best people I’ve ever worked with. Good common sense, safe on the roof, incredible work ethic… just name good things you hope to see in a worker and he was all of them.
I hired him because it’s getting harder to lift the heavy wood to the roof, difficult to carry the goods up the ladder. He became my shadow and would appear, as if by magic, when I tried to accomplish something that he thought was a bit much for the old guy. Not used to being looked out for, but was I appreciative! Truthfully I was most concerned about safety, didn’t want him or me to get hurt on the roof, but my concerns didn’t apply to him, totally on the ball. You can’t find a better person, honest and hard working. I’d use the OWC again in a heartbeat. They are the best!

I needed two guys for a difficult job hauling flagstone on my job site. They were awesome! Very friendly and hard working. Definitely earned their pay and tip. Office staff is great, also. I would strongly recommend O.W.C. to anyone!!! Thanks guys, you were a big help.

I hired two workers to help me move furniture and paint. The two workers sent by Oakland Worker’s Collective showed up early, were very polite, worked diligently with minimal supervision, and clearly cared about doing a good job. Together, we painted two rooms in a day, which if you look at the hourly rate, is a very good deal, and it means a lot to me that these workers are being taken care of in an organized fashion (the collective helps them locate free and low-​cost services). I recommend this group highly and certainly will ask them to work for me again!

I got two guys to help load up a rental truck when I was moving out of my place. They did a great job, showed up on time and were courteous.

I needed help scraping wallpaper in a bedroom, so I called the Oakland Worker’s Collective to get someone to help me. The women that answered my call was very polite and professional. She listen to what I needed and got back to me with a match in just a couple of hours. The gentleman that the collective referred was very nice, a very hard worker, and did an amazing job! Not only that, the collective provides its workers with safety training and negotiates fair wages for them. I got excellent help quickly, and am thrilled with the entire experience. If you have some small projects around your house that require a day laborer, I very highly recommend calling up the folks at the Oakland Worker’s Collective.