Blackwater and Colombian workers clash over pay scale

By BILL SIZEMORE, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 2, 2006

About three dozen former Colombian soldiers are engaged in a pay dispute with Blackwater USA, saying their salaries for security work in Iraq turned out to be one-quarter what they had been promised by recruiters in Bogota.

The dispute sheds light on the international flavor of Blackwater's work force and the pay disparities that characterize the burgeoning private military industry.

The Colombians say they are earning $34 a day, a fraction of what Blackwater pays its American contractors in the Iraq war zone.