Something Has To Change
Group interviews local workers, hoping data can be used to improve working conditions for warehouse staffers
August 12, 2010
By CINDY WOJDYLA CAIN
Joliet Herald
JOLIET — Tory Moore staked out a tiny patch of shade at Chicago and Jackson streets on a hot afternoon last week.
He stood in the parking lot of a currency exchange searching for people who have worked in area warehouses or are currently working in warehouses.
It’s all part of a mission he and his fellow members of Chicago-based Warehouse Workers for Justice are on to detail what is happening to workers in Will County’s many distribution centers.
It wasn’t hard to find people who have worked in the warehouses, said Moore of Kankakee. And most were employed by temp agencies, a trend that has concerned WWJ officials who say some of the temp companies are mistreating employees.
Most of the people surveyed by Moore agreed.
“I can make more money by sitting at home babysitting my nieces and nephews,” said Will Ellis of Joliet.
Ellis said he was paid by production. He and another worker would unload and load a truck and they would have to split the money.
“They said it takes an hour and thirty minutes to unload a truck, but that’s a lie,” he said.
Ellis said he’d make $70 off the truck, but some weeks he’d work only three days and he couldn’t count on a basic salary.
“That’s ridiculous.”
Moore asked Ellis what could be done to improve conditions.
“Higher wages, more benefits,” Ellis responded.
Ellis shook hands with Moore and said he was happy to see someone looking into the industry and its use of temporary agencies to staff the warehouses.
“That’s pretty cool and it’s good to see someone taking the initiative.”
Hoping to change rules
The survey results are being compiled by the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Urban Economic Development and they will be released soon, said Abraham Mwaura, a WWJ coordinator and an Electrical Workers Union organizer. The survey is a follow-up to a meeting WWJ officials had with area officials in April to talk about warehouse issues.
WWJ has said it’s hoping to change work rules to prohibit temp agencies from permanently staffing warehouses.
In recent months, WWJ has helped former warehouse employees file a class action lawsuit in Cook County Court against Select Remedy, the company that staffs the Wal-Mart warehouse in Elwood, for allegedly not paying employees for all of the hours they worked and for overtime.
The group also has filed multiple complaints with state and federal labor departments over 70 Bissell Homecare Inc. warehouse workers who were terminated after they voted to join the Electrical Workers Union. Maersk Distribution, a company hired to run the Bissell warehouse, said the workers weren’t fired. The employees were let go when a contract ended with a temp agency called Roadlink Workforce Solutions.
Both Wal-Mart and Bissell maintain that the companies they hired to manage and staff their warehouses have abided by all laws.
Tenuous temp situation
Survey taker Moore said even if the companies are following the letter of the law, working long term for a temp agency is problematic. He knows firsthand because he was employed by a temp agency for six years. During that time he found it tough to get a loan or find someone who would rent him an apartment because he worked for a temp agency.
“I saw people come to work and be sent home,” he said of conditions in the Kankakee warehouse where he worked. “I saw people get hurt on the job and one friend got chemicals in his eye. When the doctor told him to take some time off, they fired him.”
The temp situation has to change, Moore said.
“When a person wakes up, they like to have a permanent job,” he said.
Moore said he was fired in December for speaking his mind about work issues. Current and former warehouse workers all over the area don’t like what is happening, he said after interviewing hundreds of people.
“Some people have a lot of hostility,” he said.
Something has to change, Moore said.
“They’re using temps and the temps don’t got your back,” he said. “If you’re not organized, you don’t have anybody to fight for you.”
Horror stories
Moore wasn’t alone on his mission. Joining him was fellow WWJ member Cindy Marble of Crest Hill. She interviewed Keyonoa Robinson of Joliet who worked a Bolingbrook warehouse.
“I got a phone call saying my assignment ended, they didn’t give me a reason why,” Robinson said. “I asked the temp agency why (I was let go), and they said, ‘We don’t know. We were just given a list of names.'”
Robinson said she’d love to find a job outside of a warehouse, “But with the economy, it’s hard. I have four kids.”
Like Ellis, Robinson was glad to see someone doing something about the issue.
“It’s great,” she said. “Somebody needs to step up and protest against the temp services laying people off. Either exclude (the agencies) or get them to up the pay rates or up the jobs.”
Marble said she has heard all kinds of horror stories during her survey sessions. Some people work for six months then are let go because the temp agency said their background check didn’t pan out. Others can’t budget to pay their bills because they never know how much they will earn.
“And temp services are advertising they’re hiring, but when people call, they’re told they have no work.”