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Group maintaining fight for fair labor
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Joliet Herald-News
By Cindy Wojdyla Cain
JOLIET — The cozy Warehouse Workers for Justice office buzzed with activity earlier this month as volunteers and employees gathered to tackle the day’s tasks.
A pot of freshly brewed coffee fueled their efforts. Group members chatted while working on computers and laptops and legal aides assisted workers with complaints.
Matthew Grotto~Sun-Times Media
WWJ came to town three years ago to improve working conditions for Will County warehouse workers. The group is staying put until all the workers are paid fair wages by the temp agencies that employ them, said organizer Abraham Mwaura.
Recent lawsuit
Workers complain that they’re paid by containers they unload and not by the hour so they’re making less than minimum wage. They also say they’re not getting overtime owed to them.
In the past two years, WWJ has filed nine lawsuits and numerous complaints with state and federal labor departments in attempt to get employees money they are owed.
WWJ Receives 2011 Creative Movement Award
Sunday, December 18th, 2011From Chicago Arts
By Jennifer Patino
And the Creative Movement Award goes to…
The 2011 Creative Movement Awards honored eight amazing people, projects, and organizations for their contributions to inspiring a climate for social change in the U.S.
Insight Arts and Rumble Arts Center partnered together to present the awards at the School of the Art Institute on Dec. 9th, 2011 as a joint fundraiser for their nonprofit endeavors….
…Warehouse Workers for Justice, Gender Just, and The Unemployed Action Center each took to the stage with force to tell the audience about their causes. Warehouse Workers was founded after the 2008 occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors plant forced Bank of America to honor workers benefits. They received an award for their continuing the fight against wage theft and exploitation of the 150,000 warehouse workers in Chicago. Member Robert Hines was not paid his wages after working overtime for Walmart the week before Black Friday last year and he ended up being evicted:
“Some people literally have to work in the factory, in these warehouse that are literally raking us over the coals. I’m tired of not being able to provide for my family and with organizations like you all this is going to stop TODAY, I promise you!” [audience erupts into clapping and cheers]
Walmart Warehouse Workers Sue, Claiming Unpaid Wages
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011A group of Illinois warehouse workers has accused two staffing firms of failing to pay employees for the hours they worked.
The alleged “wage theft” occurred at a Wal-Mart warehouse in far southwest suburban Elwood. Orlando, Fla.-based Eclipse Advantage, the staffing firm that hired the workers, was named in the suit, along with Midwest Temp Group Inc., which has office in New Lenox and Bolingbrook.
Wal-Mart was not named in the lawsuit.
Both temp companies are accused of violating the Illinois Day and Temporary Services Act.
Elwood workers claim that Eclipse Advantage promised they would be paid minimum wage, which is $8.25 an hour in Illinois, and given the ability to earn a bonus. But their paychecks, the suit said, failed to match the actual hours employees worked and did not equal minimum wage.
“If the allegations are accurate, we will require our contractor to take appropriate action immediately,” a Wal-Mart spokesman said.
The suit was filed on behalf of the warehouse employees Nov. 18 in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois by Warehouse Workers for Justice, a Chicago-based organization founded in 2008 by the United Electrical Workers. Warehouse Workers for Justice has filed three similar suits against Wal-Mart in the past two years.
Warehouse workers sue Walmart subcontractor for wage theft
Monday, November 28th, 2011Daily Kos
By Laura Clawson
Chicago is a massive hub for warehouses and distribution centers handling goods for chains like Walmart, Home Depot, Target and more. Railroads and interstate highways come together there, making it a perfect location for, at this point, half a billion square feet of warehouse space, staffed by around 150,000 warehouse workers. As you might guess, those workers don’t fare so well on wages, benefits, working conditions or general treatment. It’s not like Walmart treats its own directly employed workers acceptably to begin with, let alone when it has the plausible deniability of the jobs being subcontracted. Then they rely on us to figure that abuses are all the subcontractor’s fault, or just not to pay attention to abuses at some company we never heard of.
Another Class Action Suit Against Walmart Warehouse
Friday, November 25th, 2011In These Times
By Kari Lydersen
With Black Friday sales beginning Thanksgiving at 10 p.m., Walmart expects to bring in many millions in sales this week on the single most important shopping day of the year.
Meanwhile workers in Walmart’s warehouses in Chicago and southern California charge that the logistics companies contracted by the mega-retailer are nickel-and-diming them, shaving dollars off their hourly wages as temporary workers and obscuring the practice by failing to give them accurate pay stubs.
On November 19 the group Warehouse Workers for Justice helped workers file their fourth class action lawsuit since 2009 against companies that operate Walmart warehouses in the Chicago area.
This lawsuit charges that at least 18 workers at a warehouse in suburban Elwood realized once they were paid that they got less than promised and in fact less than minimum wage from the company Eclipse Advantage. This week workers marched to Eclipse offices demanding its billing and payment records so they can figure out exactly how much they are owed.
Shoddy record-keeping and incomplete or non-existent paystubs are a common complaint in the industry, where workers are often not even sure what company exactly they are working for and what their official pay rate is. The lawsuit also names Mid-West Temp Group Inc. Some workers were hired by Mid-West to work for Eclipse, others were hired directly by Eclipse. Multiple levels of subcontractors are another common facet of the warehousing industry.