A new report on Latino/Immigrant workers titled “Struggling for a Better Life will be released Thursday, March 3, 7 p.m., in the Community Room, Villager Mall Atrium.

The community is invited to come to the release and discussion of this report by the Latino Workers Project of the Workers Rights Center that culminates more than a year of work documenting discrimination and workplace abuses faced by Latinos and immigrant workers in Madison and Dane County.

“Struggling for a Better Life” compares immigrant working conditions today with those documented in the first report of the Latino Workers Project some 15 years ago. The report offers new data on workplace topics (wage theft, denial of workers compensation to immigrants with illness and injuries on the job, sexual harassment, denial of Latina women’s workplace rights, etc.) as well as recommendations to solve these problems. It will be available in English and Spanish.

A new fact-finding delegation of leaders in Dane County’s Latino community and their allies, including representatives from agencies, legal services, higher education, and churches convened in 2015. The delegation reviewed data collected through worker-surveys, community forums, focus group conversations, and published data, and then created recommendations for improving the status of Latino workers.

The LWP survey showed high levels of wage theft reported by about 40 percent of workers surveyed, highest in janitorial (61 percent), high levels of workplace discrimination and few workers with health benefits (29% have benefits through employer. 45% have NO health insurance from any source).