Sometimes I will come across an article in my travels and before I can get to the end of the report I am anxious to either write about the same issue, or figure out a way to safely share it with as many people as possible. This happened again today with this piece.

I know we have some Union Review “Salting” fans; here is one for the record-book. In New Orleans a worker named Oscar Madrid was hired by a subcontractor as a painter. He is one of many Latino workers in the area who are paid $10 an hour off the books, in cash – no questions asked.

When Madrid began working 18 – 20 hours in overtime he inquired about those wages. In so many words he was told “take it or leave it.” Now subcontractors and contractors like the one Madrid is at are facing a collective-action lawsuit filed on August 2nd.

The newspaper, where the article was found, handled this story really well, I thought. I loved the fact that they used subtitles such as, “Fly-by-Night Groups” referring to the very many subcontractors and contractors that came out of the woodwork following Hurricane Katrina two years ago.

Kudos to this publication, its writer, and Oscar Madrid.