Tough to pin down who’s responsible for warehouse workers
Chicago Sun-Times/Joliet Herald-News
While warehouse worker complaints have been simmering in Will County for the past three years, they’re boiling over in Southern California.
The fact that two warehouse workers’ rights groups have sprung up 2,000 miles apart, indicates something is wrong in this industry.
Warehouse Workers for Justice came to Will County in the summer of 2009 to help workers who complained of not being paid for hours worked and who said they were becoming permanent temporary workers who never had access to job security or benefits.
Meanwhile, Warehouse Workers United, which also was founded in 2009, was operating in a similar capacity in Southern California where the “Inland Empire” shipping hub employed thousands of warehouse workers, too.
Last week, three dozen workers walked off the job at the Walmart warehouse in Mira Loma, Calif., to protest unfair labor practices. Starting Thursday, the striking workers and others affiliated with Warehouse Workers United started a five-day, 50-mile “WalMarch” from Riverside to downtown Los Angeles to publicize the problems warehouse workers are facing.
One of the biggest problems in the industry seems to be the use of third-party logistics partners. In California, the Walmart warehouse workers who are on strike are employed by two subcontractors: NFI Industries and Warestaff, a temp agency.