The underworld of raiteros

Michael Grabell of ProPublica reports how some of America’s best-known companies and largest temp agencies benefit from—and tacitly collaborate with—an underworld of labor brokers, known as “raiteros,” who charge workers fees, pushing their pay below minimum wage. Grabell followed buses and vans from the early-morning pickups in Chicago to the warehouses in the far suburbs, and conducted more than 60 interviews with workers, raiteros, temp agency recruiters, managers of check-cashing stores, and others. The ProPublica team examined check stubs, court records, labor department files, and undercover video shot by the Chicago Workers’ Collaborative, an advocacy group that opposes some temp agency practices.

KJ