Chicago Teachers Expose Walmart
Warehouse Workers for Justice Press Release
Walton Family Funds Efforts to Privatize Public Education; Walmart Warehouse Workers Strike over Unfair Labor Practices
WWJ Media Contacts: Leah Fried, Warehouse Workers for Justice, leah@warehouseworker.org,
Striking teachers and striking warehouse workers will march on Walmart to expose the corporations role in the push for charter schools and the unfair labor practices in its warehouses in Illinois and California.
When: Tuesday Sept. 18th 1pm Simeon Vocational High School, 8147 South Vincennes Avenue, Chicago
Who: Chicago Teachers Union, Warehouse Workers for Justice strikers and supporters.
What: March from Simeon High School to the Walmart Store at 8331 S Stewart, Chicago
Chicago Teachers Union states,”CTU stands in solidarity with striking warehouse workers in Illinois and California who are fighting for their right to safe working conditions. As educators, we also protest the role of the Walton Family Fund in financing efforts to privatize public education and increase the number of charter schools”.
Workers at key Walmart distribution centers in Elwood, IL and Mira Loma, CA are on strike over unfair labor practices, including illegal retaliation and violations of their rights. Workers face wage theft, discrimination and dangerous working conditions.
The Walton Family Foundation has given more than $1 billion to corporate education reform initiatives, including millions to the pro-voucher, pro-privatization Alliance for School Choice. In Chicago, in 2011 alone, the family spent more than $3 million on organizations like Stand for Children.
In Illinois, workers at a key Walmart distribution center walked off the job on Saturday September 15th to protest intimidation and retaliation against workers. They are demanding fair pay for all the hours they work, safe working conditions, an end to discrimination and illegal retaliation against workers who speak up for better conditions. They joined workers at the warehouse that supplies Walmart in California, who walked off the job on Sept. 12th, 2012.
Walmart has been harshly criticized for the legal violations of its contractors and towards its store associates. In California, contractors at warehouses serving Walmart were fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for violations of workers’ rights and a federal judge issued several orders and injunctions in favor of the workers, including an injunction stop the mass firing of workers who had filed the lawsuit. In Illinois, a total of six lawsuits have been filed against contractors operating in the Walmart warehouse for labor violations.
Warehouse workers labor under extreme temperatures lifting thousands of boxes that can weigh up to 250lbs each. Workplace injuries are common; workers rarely earn a living wage or have any benefits. Warehouse Workers for Justice is an Illinois worker center dedicated to fighting for quality jobs in the distribution industry that can sustain families and communities.
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