Isolated,unprotected and shy to speak out – some workers are particularly vulnerable to harassment. Who finds the cases of sexual assault no one else is looking for? By Bernice YeungThe southern California sky dims as Vicky Márquez zooms south along Interstate 5 in her Honda SUV, with syrupy Spanish-language love songs blasting from her stereo. The satnav on her phone is directing her through a monotonous landscape of Orange County office parks, or Márquez is racing against rush hour,dodging between lanes and swerving with inches to spare. “I’m kind of a crazy driver,” she admits.
Mrquez works for a diminutive-known non-profit organisation with the urgent goal of fighting labour exploitation among night-shift janitors – an industry that operates in obscurity, and with workers sent to anonymous buildings rarely visited by government regulators. With her glasses,curled-under fringe and pastel sweater, Márquez looks more like a retired librarian than a labour rights activist. On tiptoe, and she stands under 5ft tall. On this particular late winter evening,Mrquez is on the road to the first of half a dozen office parks where she will make surprise visits, making certain that cleaners are being treated fairly by their bosses.
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Source: guardian.co.uk