WalMarch Dispatch: Day 1
With the support of community, clergy and elected leaders includg Asm. Norma Torres, warehouse workers launched the WalMarch, a 50-mile, 6-day pilgrimage from Southern California’s Inland Empire to Downtown Los Angeles.
Workers and their supporters are calling on Walmart to take responsibility for working conditions in its Inland Empire warehouses. As the largest retailer in the world, Walmart effectively dictates the standards of operation in the logistics and distribution industry, which impacts the lives of 85,000 warehouse workers in Southern California.
Want to know more? Check out yesterday’s photos from the picket line and today’s photos from the WalMarch. Read the press release here or see our coverage in the press. Watch the video here.
Voices From the March
“We are supporting warehouse workers today because we are struggling with the same oppression as Walmart Associates.”
– Maria Ledesma (Walmart Associate, OUR Walmart Member)
“Any company or organization that treats a human being less than civil should be confronted because the people who are mistreated are our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, friends, and family.”
– Alex Avila (Community Supporter)
“It’s critical that we support workers who are taking a risk to improve their working conditions.”
– Irv Hershenbaum (United Farm Worker First Vice President)
“I was a warehouse worker for 3-4 years as a temporary worker through Arrowstaffing agency and I’m supporting the warehouse workers today because I know what horrible conditions they are experiencing.”
– Michael Castillo (Community Supporter & Former Warehouse Worker)
The last time I shopped at walmart, maybe a year ago now, I was so disgusted by a manager to employee group seesion of discipline/pep talk meeting he was conducting right in the middle of the store. He was actually treating all the employees sub human verbally. He acted like he was scolding a pet while trying to potty train. There have been other isolated incidents I have witnessed previous to this also. I hate to see good hearted, hard working, and above all else, senior citizen employees forced to endure this type of treatment. I won’t support that store because of the management. Woodhaven, Michigan