Survey reveals harsh conditions
Poverty wages and few benefits. Job-related injuries that result in workers getting disciplined or fired. Temporary positions that offer little hope of stability or advancement. Allegations of union busing.
Welcome to the world of workers who staff the hundreds of warehouses clustered near the nation’s largest inland dry port, a sprawling inter-model distribution hub for consumer goods located in Will County, southwest of Chicago. In a new report, Warehouse Workers for Justice (WWJ) analyzes the present state of working conditions at these warehouses, some of the few places in the Chicagoland region offering new blue-collar jobs. But those jobs aren’t providing for workers or their families, the report finds.