For more than a year, Mario Pesantez said, he was told to report to work by climbing over a tall, chain-link fence that separates the streets of Glendale, Queens, from a yard used by his employer, the New York & Atlantic Railway.
Once inside he joined a group of Mexican, Ecuadorean and Dominican men who said they routinely spent 12- to 14-hour shifts working on sections of the Long Island Rail Road that New York & Atlantic had leased to transport freight. The men said they righted derailed trains, maintained switches and cut thick railroad ties, earning much less than white co-workers while being denied safety equipment and training.
Click here to read the full story.