Walmart warehouse workers declare victory
Newstips
Curtis Black
Striking warehouse workers at Walmart’s distribution center near Joliet have won an agreement for an end to retaliation against employees protesting working conditions, and are returning to work with full pay for the three weeks they were out, Warehouse Workers for Justice reports.
“We forced the company to respect our rights,” said striker Ted Ledwa. “We showed that when workers are united, we can stand up to the biggest corporations in the world and win.”
Members of the Warehouse Workers Organizing Committee walked out September 15 to protest the firing by the Roadlink employment agency of a plaintiff in a new lawsuit – the sixth filed against Walmart subcontrators in Elwood, Illinois – charging wage theft. They won widespread support.
Last Monday, strikers and their supporters shut down the Elwood warehouse – Walmart’s largest distribution center on the continent – with hundreds rallying as clergy and community and labor leaders blocked the road. On Friday, strikers delivered a letter demanding an end to retaliation and improvement of conditions signed by 100,000 supporters to the Walmart store in Presidential Towers.