Julie Flores, Freelance Photographer

I currently volunteer my time with Long Island Jobs With Justice for the Unemployed Bridges Program. It’s a bill we’ve been pushing in the NY legislature that will help some people that are not currently eligible to receive unemployment insurance. 

Unemployed Bridges is a program that would expand unemployment to currently excluded workers in New York State like those who work freelance, people recently released from prison, and undocumented immigrants. 

My mom works for 1199SEIU and she organizes healthcare workers. She helps people organize and unionize. She’s always been into political work. I think it’s because my mom came to Guatemala during the Civil War. She was always into politics. It’s like it’s been in her blood because of what happened in her country. And they’re in a dictatorship for many years, and she knew about the wrongs that were happening. 

What’s funny was that I really wasn’t going down this path like my mom. I went to film school.

Most of my adult life, I’ve been working minimum wage jobs. I experienced really crappy minimum wage experiences. I worked overtime for crappy money. I had terrible bosses and the list goes on. I could spend this whole interview talking about my shitty work experiences.

I didn’t know my rights and I had to find my voice.  

Helping others find their voice has been very impactful for me. Sharing my story, getting involved in organizing, and learning about my own rights have healed me from some terrible experiences being a worker. 

I’ve been unemployed for 6 months, and it’s mostly because I don’t want to work part-time again. I don’t want to do that. I’m 36. I grew up in the 90s.

We were taught that if you go to school and you get a degree, you’ll get a good job. I did that. I went to college and now I’m in this boat where no one’s hiring me. They hire kids with literally no experience straight out of college. 

We’re living in this weird time, and I don’t get it because if you get a bachelor’s degree, you’re supposed to find a good job. But does it exist anymore? If it does, I missed the boat. I missed the boat big time.

I haven’t been working since mid-February. But I’ve been working on my photography and other stuff, and I’ve been applying for jobs, and I’ve been trying to get into nonprofits, but nonprofits won’t hire me, because I don’t have many years of experience. I’ve worked in customer service for almost 10 years, and still not enough experience to get hired. 

Film has always been a really big part of my life. My parents are big horror movie fans. It’s been the one thing in my life that I could escape to. Photography and film have been important outlets for me. It clears my mind and makes me feel better when I am holding a camera, walking around, taking pictures. It just makes me feel like everything is going to be okay. 

If I could give advice to someone 20 years younger, I would like them to know their rights as a worker, but also their worth.

Nowadays, I feel like kids who are younger have it way worse than we did when we were growing up. I would say to them, “Don’t be scared to use your voice, and if you know something is wrong because your gut tells you, listen to your gut. Your gut never lies to you.” 

I have learned that the hard way. If you feel like you need to speak up for somebody or speak up for yourself, do it. I was scared to speak up because I was uncomfortable about sharing my story because I didn’t feel like I had a lot of experience. I don’t feel scared anymore now.  

I feel like what I need to say is important and I know I’m not alone in being screwed over the way I have been screwed over. Sadly, I’m not alone.  

We have to stand up to corporations because we’re powerful enough to stop them from making money. 

I think a good job means working 40 hours a week doing something that you’re proud of with benefits and a union.

It means not being treated like crap. I want the opportunity to show my skill set and to be able to photograph more events that are going on in the country, especially what’s going on in the border. I would love to do that and help the refugees that are coming into this country, especially people from Haiti. A good job means I’m not living paycheck to paycheck, getting benefits, and paid vacation time. I’ve never had that in my life. 

I want to be able to earn enough so I can get my master’s degree. My goal is to go back to school to do Latin American studies. There’s a lot to learn about my people, my culture, and to understand more about migration.

My dream right now is just to be able to find a good job and go to school. 

Doing this work has been very beneficial to me, because it made me feel more confident to share my story and be more comfortable to talk to people. I’ve been able to photograph our organizing and workers’ movements the past two years, and then I made a zine about it. When I showed my zine to the Long Island coalition group, they gave me great feedback. It helped me find a path.

I’m very thankful for Jobs With Justice. It’s been a great experience for me. Whatever happens with the bill, I’m happy that I’m part of it.