Employers withholding pay.
Workers held hostage by bosses who control their food and shelter.
Laborers forced to sleep at construction sites.
Horror stories from a Third World country?
No. Labor and religious activists say they are conditions that some Latino
workers suffer here in Dane County.
The Latino Workers Project, a coalition of faith, labor and community leaders under the sponsorship of the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice of South Central Wisconsin, is devising a strategy to document and expose violations of labor law and help Latino workers assert their rights.
``It's a year 2000 type of slavery,'' one local labor organizer said.
``The issue is that most things we hear anecdotally,'' said Alfonso Zepeda-Capistran, a recruiter for a state migrant education program who also is the president of LUChA, Latinos United for Change and Advancement.
``We want to find a systematic way of addressing some of the conditions we hear about,'' Zepeda-Capistran said.
Building trust with workers so they will tell their stories will be a major task of the project, he said.
Fact-finding will be a major thrust, said Leila Pine, chairwoman of the Latino Workers Project and the First Unitarian Society's Social Justice Committee.
At the close of what is envisioned as a yearlong fact-finding phase, a public hearing is proposed as a way to hear more from Latino workers and the social service agencies with whom they are involved.
The coalition also will repeat its ``Labor in the Pulpits'' program, introduced last year, which will bring a dozen labor leaders before local congregations this weekend to speak on the common ground of social justice shared by faith and labor communities.\ A first-time clergy/labor luncheon also is scheduled for Sept. 12, Pine said.
The coalition was formed about 1 1/2 years ago and is affiliated with a national interfaith committee on worker justice, she said.
``Historically, faith and labor communities have worked together for worker justice. We felt a need to return to those roots,'' Pine said.
Jim Cavanaugh, president of the South Central Federation of Labor, said local stories of worker exploitation seemed to involve industries with a preponderance of Latino workers.
``We thought we would try to get some facts to demonstrate whether there is a pattern here,'' he said.
Latino workers may be more vulnerable than other workers in one way: threats of deportation if they complain about working conditions.
``It's a tremendous hammer held over their heads,'' said Cavanaugh.
He said that even workers who are not documented have the protection of the law.
``The Fair Labor Standards Act applies to people who work. The status of documented or not documented doesn't enter into it,'' Cavanaugh said.
Tom Hale, an organizer for Painters Local 802, said he has come across outrageous labor law violations while trying to organize drywall installers.
``There are unscrupulous contractors taking advantage,'' said Hale, who is not associated with the Latino Workers Project.
Hale and others tell of Spanish-speaking workers recruited in Mexico or Texas who find themselves working in a strange city for bosses who withhold pay, force them to work off travel expenses or make them sleep at a job site.
``It's happening here in Madison -- in the shadow of the Capitol,'' said Hale, who likens the situation to modern-day slavery.
After demonstrating the extent of the problem, the Latino Workers Project hopes to take action.
``We don't want to be a bunch of white middle-class do-gooders and labor officials,'' Cavanaugh said.
``We want more than an expose, we want to help workers empower themselves.''
Among possible actions is a bilingual brochure explaining workers' rights and where to go for protection.
``There are a lot of things happening that should get out to the public,'' said one liaison between workers and the project.
``Then there will be lots of room for policy-makers, clergy, all aspects of the community to work to improve conditions.''