Workers Call on Walmart to Take Responsibility for Warehouses

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Following a long, hot summer marked by repeated attempts to urge Walmart to eliminate illegal and inhumane working conditions in its contracted warehouses in Southern California, warehouse workers and their supporters will begin a 50-mile, 6-day pilgrimage from Riverside, California to Downtown Los Angeles at a press conference at 10 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 13.

In the tradition of the farm workers and janitors, dozens of warehouse workers and their supporters will march along the same route goods travel through the Los Angeles basin to and from the Inland Empire. They will march for basic, but critical improvements on the job: fans to combat the 120 degree heat, working equipment, clean water, regular breaks, and an end to inhumane work quotas and retaliation for speaking up about safety conditions.

More than 85,000 workers labor in warehouses lifting merchandise out of shipping containers that enter through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and onto trucks destined for retail stores like Walmart.

WHAT: Press Conference to Launch Warehouse Worker Pilgrimage
WHEN: 10 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 13
WHERE: 601 S. Milliken Ave., Suite A, Ontario, California 91761
WHO: Warehouse Workers
Assembly member Norma Torres
Members of the clergy

Warehouse workers will embark on their 50-mile march Sept. 13. They will sleep on church floors and rely on community organizations for support and meals. Marchers will be joined daily by supporters and elected officials. Workers will hold daily media events and will be available for interviews in English and Spanish throughout the entire march.

Follow the march on social media using the hashtag #WalMarch.

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