We’re proud to share the first in a series of interviews produced in collaboration with WORT FM, featuring workers who are fighting to recover unpaid wages. This is part of our ongoing effort to bring attention to wage theft and generate public pressure to criminalize this exploitative practice.
This month, we present the testimony of two immigrants seeking documented status and work permits while suffering salary theft in the Dane County area. Luis Miguel and Vanessa, Nicaraguan immigrants who came to Wisconsin last April with their daughter Mia. After a long journey across Central America, and being sent back to Mexico’s southern border twice, they arrived in Madison, only to face the cruel reality of wage theft.Wisconsin’s wage theft laws are not strong enough; while wage theft violates the state’s employment law, it is not treated as a serious crime.
Wisconsin’s lack of penal regulation for wage theft generates loopholes that incite/stimulate/foment labor abuse. This practice is particularly prevalent among workers who don’t have documents, suffer language barriers, or work in precarious conditions. Listen to their story here.