Ten warehouse workers were suspended after taking a 5-minute break to recover from 90+ degree temperatures inside the warehouse where they move Walmart suitcases.
“We are doing heavy manual labor inside the hot warehouse and there very little ventilation,” said Ricardo Hernandez, who has worked at the Walmart-contracted warehouse for one year. “When it’s so hot inside and we are sweating so much we often feel sick.”
With temperatures above 90 degrees inside the warehouse, workers have been taking short recovery breaks to cool their bodies and combat the extreme temperatures. That changed Friday when warehouse managers suddenly suspended ten workers after they took a “heat break.” All ten workers participated in a two-day strike at the end of July.
Warehouse Workers United filed federal charges with the National Labor Relations Board Tuesday, Aug. 20 and the suspended workers and their supporters held a picket line in front of the Mira Loma, California warehouse known as Olivet International Wednesday, Aug. 21.
