Archive for September 2012
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Chicago Teachers Expose Walmart
Tuesday, September 18th, 2012Warehouse 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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Warehouse Workers Strike In Illinois On Heels Of California Walkout
Monday, September 17th, 2012Huffington Post
Dave Jamieson
A strike among warehouse workers in Southern California has spread to northeastern Illinois, where a group of workers at a distribution center for Walmart goods walked off the job over the weekend.
The walkout by roughly 30 employees of a labor agency in Elwood, Ill., near Joliet, mirrors another strike, begun last week, by another group of 30 warehouse workers in Mira Loma, Calif. Both the Illinois and California facilities handle products headed to Walmart stores throughout the country, although none of the workers in question are directly employed by the retail giant.
The individuals in California went on strike over what they described as unsafe working conditions at the warehouse, while those in Illinois walked out claiming that supervisors had retaliated against them after they brought a list of grievances to management.
Phillip Bailey, a worker at the Elwood warehouse, told The Huffington Post that he and some 30 colleagues on Saturday brought a petition to their employer, the logistics company RoadLink, demanding a living wage and regular hours. (Bailey and three other workers had filed a lawsuit against RoadLink two days earlier.) According to Bailey, the supervisors told the group of workers they were temporarily suspended, and the workers then went a strike.
Walmart Warehouse Strikers Get a Boost of Support
Monday, September 17th, 2012Warehouse Workers for Justice Press Release
Contact: Leah Fried, Warehouse Workers for Justice, leah@warehouseworker.org
Illinois Workers Walk Off the Job Following Similar Action in Southern California
CHICAGO — Workers at a key Wal-Mart distribution center in Elwood, Illinois joined warehouse worker from Mira Loma, CA on strike to protest illegal retaliation and other labor abuses. Today they will visit Walmart’s regional offices in Rosemont, IL to deliver tens of thousands of signatures in support of the workers.
On September 12th, warehouse workers in Southern California walked off the job to protest their employers, NFI and Warestaff, for retaliation. The California workers also move Walmart goods. Follow this link for more information about the Southern California strike by workers at Walmart warehouses.
In Illinois, workers walked off the job on Saturday September 15th to protest intimidation and retaliation against workers, following the filing of a federal lawsuit on September 13th by workers against Wal-Mart contractor Roadlink Workforce Solutions for wage theft. It is the sixth lawsuit against a Walmart contractor at their Elwood warehouse.
“We are on strike to protest violations of our rights. We are tired of retaliation and threats every time we speak up about unsafe working conditions and other abuses”, said Eric Skoglund, a striking warehouse worker.
Wal-Mart 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 Wal-Mart 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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Workers walk out at Walmart plant in Elwood
Saturday, September 15th, 2012Chicago Sun-Times/Joliet Herald-News
Steve Metsch
Workers at the Walmart distributions center in Elwood went on strike Saturday to protest alleged illegal retaliation and other labor abuses.
The action came days after warehouse workers in Southern California walked off the job to protest their employers, NFI and Warestaff, for retaliation.
The workers in California also move Walmart goods.
Workers in Elwood walked off to protest intimidation and retaliation, according to a news release from Warehouse Workers for Justice.
“We are on strike to protest violations of our rights. We are tired of retaliation and threats every time we speak up about unsafe working conditions and other abuses,” striking warehouse worker Eric Skoglund said in the news release.
According to the release, warehouse workers lift thousands of boxes that can weigh up to 250 pounds each; often suffer injuries; and rarely earn a living wages.
Supervisors at the Elwood distribution center — which is called Schneider Logistics — were not available for comment, a security guard told a reporter at 7:15 p.m. Saturday. The guard hung up on a reporter when asked how many workers had walked out.
Walmart warehouse workers strike
Saturday, September 15th, 2012Newstips
Curtis Black
Workers at a Walmart distribution center near Joliet went on strike Saturday to protest what they say is illegal retaliation.
According to a release from Warehouse Workers for Justice, they’re protesting intimidation and retaliation following the filing of a federal lawsuit charging violation of wage laws earlier this week.
On Thursday, workers at Walmart’s huge warehouse complex in Elwood, Illinois, filed suit against Walmart contractor Roadlink Workforce Solutions alleging they hadn’t been paid for all hours worked, hadn’t been paid for overtime, and in some cases were paid less than minimum wage, according to their attorney, Chris Williams of the Workers’ Law Office.