Strike Supporters Shut Down Illinois Walmart Warehouse
Labor Notes
Micah Utrecht
Six hundred supporters of striking Walmart warehouse workers in Elwood, Illinois, ratcheted up the pressure Monday with a huge march and civil disobedience that shut down the most important node in the company’s American distribution network. Workers estimate the action cost the company several million dollars.
The goal was to shine light on an enormous but hidden workforce of warehouse employees toiling to move Walmart’s famously cheap products throughout the country. Community and labor supporters from the Chicago area joined the 30 strikers, who walked off the job in an unfair labor practice strike September 15. They are members of the Warehouse Workers Organizing Committee.
Seventeen religious, labor, and community leaders were arrested at the warehouse entrance—closed for the day in anticipation of the action.