Warehouse Worker Resource Center

Improving working conditions in the warehouse industry in Southern California

Reports

Congressman Mark Takano Supports Eastvale Walmart Warehouse Workers

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In Eastvale, California, Olivet International warehouse workers, who move suitcases for Walmart, have been fighting for a safe workplace for over 2 years. Olivet now is trying to push out these workers and replace them with temp workers by cutting their hours, attacking workers’ families by having work schedules that change day to day and trying to limit their restroom access.

Workers are demanding that Olivet Stop the Retaliation and provide Good, Safe Jobs Now!

Thank you to our allies especially Congressman Mark Takano who has been a strong advocate to have these jobs be good jobs for our community.  Congressman Takano wrote a letter to Olivet demanding that they treat these workers with respect!

 

UC Riverside Reports: Warehouse Jobs Pay Poorly, Lack Health Insurance

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Two policy research briefs released this month by Researchers from UCR’s Labor Studies program and School of Public Policy’s Center for Sustainable Suburban Development found that a significant share of blue-collar warehouse jobs are filled through temporary staffing agencies, enabling warehouse companies to pay these workers less than those employed directly by the companies and avoid providing health insurance. These jobs typically pay less than the living wage, contributing to poverty rates in Riverside and San Bernardino counties and the city of Ontario that exceed poverty rates for California and the U.S. The studies were funded by the UC Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

The research team includes: Ellen Reese, professor of sociology and chair of the Labor Studies program; Juliann Allison, associate professor of gender and sexuality studies and public policy, and associate director of CSSD; Joel Herrera, a UCR sociology major who will enroll in UCLA’s sociology graduate program in the fall; and Mila Huston, an independent researcher who earned her master’s degree in sociology at UCR.

Policy Brief: Health Care Needs and Access Among Warehouse Workers in Southern California Why the City of Ontario Needs to Raise the Minimum Wage: Earnings Among Warehouse Workers in Inland Southern California

Why the City of Ontario Needs to Raise the Minimum Wage: Earnings Among Warehouse Workers in Inland Southern California

UC Riverside Report “Unsafe and Unfair”

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UC Riverside Report “Unsafe and Unfair: Labor Conditions in the Warehouse Industry” Points to Pressures in the Logistics Industry
July 18, 2012

A study released by the University of California, Riverside shows that labor subcontracting and lack of employer accountability have fostered unsafe and unfair working conditions in the Inland warehouse industry.

The report was written by a research team led by Associate Professor of Sociology Ellen Reese, and it appears in Policy Matters, a quarterly journal published by UC Riverside.

In 2010, 114,000 people were hired in warehouses in the Inland Empire, according to the California Employment Development Department. This workforce is mostly Latino, of which about half are immigrants. Temporary workers who lack benefits and are paid low wages do much of the work.

The study combines information from multiple sources and methods, including secondary literature, survey data, and ethnographic field research, including 17 semi-structured interviews with warehouse workers, warehouse managers, and representatives of temporary employment services.

UC Riverside Policy Matters: “Unsafe and Unfair: Labor Conditions in the Warehouse Industry”

NELP: “Chain of Greed” Report

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NELP Chain of GreedNational Employment Law Project Report Details Walmart’s Negative Effects on the Local Economy
June 6, 2012

Major retailers like Walmart are driving down wages and workplace safety standards on a scale far greater than understood before, according to a report released June 6 by the National Employment Law Project.

The explosion of “domestic outsourcing,” the aggressive practice of contracting warehousing, transportation and goods delivery to a complex hierarchy of contractors and subcontractors, has lowered the quality of jobs in Southern California and disproportionately impacted working Latinos here.

“We worked long days, often 16 hours with no breaks, no time for lunch and no overtime pay. We knew it was wrong, but it seemed like there was no one to talk to to make it better. Things started to change when we stood together in the face of retaliation.” David Acosta, father of three young children, described his experience working inside Southern California warehouses.

Read the report.
En español.

University of Illinois: “Ending Wage Theft”

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The Movement to End Wage Theft
October 2011

Over the last decade, grassroots opposition to wage theft has grown dramatically across the country. Wage theft, the illegal underpayment of wages primarily affects the working poor.

In the report: “A Fair Day’s Pay: The Movement to End Wage Theft”, Nik Theodore, an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, examines over a dozen organizations that utilize innovative tactics to combat this illegal practice. Commissioned by the Discount Foundation, the report reviews a variety of local, state and federal strategies driven by grantee organizations to address violations of employment laws.

Read the report.

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