Rep. Mark Takano of Riverside delivered a letter asking tough questions of the warehouse operator at the facility where ten workers were recently suspended after taking a 5-minute break to recover from extreme temperatures.
“Protecting the safety and wellbeing of hardworking Californians is one of my greatest concerns,” Takano wrote. “I consider the assertion that workers are being required to work through excessive heat, being denied breaks necessary to cool down and are facing retaliation when raising concerns about working conditions to be very serious charges indeed.”
Download the full letter here.
The warehouse, known as Olivet International, is contracted by Walmart. Thirty-two workers went on strike at the end of July after experiencing extreme intimidation following speaking out publicly for improved health and safety in the workplace. Five federal charges have been filed in the past two months to stop retaliation against workers at the Mira Loma facility.
