For Immediate Release: Sept. 22, 2021
Contact: Sheheryar Kaoosji, 213-453-8454 skaoosji@warehouseworkers.org
Statement from Sheheryar Kaoosji, Executive Director of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, on the Passage of Assembly Bill 701
ONTARIO, Calif. — The Warehouse Worker Resource Center is excited that the legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom made the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, Assembly Bill 701 law. This bill is a groundbreaking and meaningful step toward a warehouse sector in California that is just and equitable.
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As goods movement and warehousing become a dominant sector of California’s economy, we have seen conditions decline rather than improve. Employers like Amazon, now California’s largest private employer, have been driving conditions down with high and burdensome quotas for workers, leading to unacceptable injury rates and employee turnover that destabilize regions with large warehouse workforces like the Inland Empire and the Central Valley.
AB 701 will ban work performance rates that force workers into unsafe or uncompensated work; empower workers to take concerns over work rates to state enforcement agencies; and provide workers who speak up or ask about their work rates with retaliation protections. Such sensible measures will make the warehouse sector more sustainable and protect the hundreds of thousands of Californians who work in warehouses.
Thanks to the leadership of Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, and our partners at Teamsters and other key unions and organizations, who stood with and will continue to fight for the rights of warehouse workers in California.
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About Warehouse Worker Resource Center
Warehouse Worker Resource Center (WWRC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving working conditions in the warehouse industry in Southern California. WWRC assists workers dealing with issues of health and safety, wage theft and workers’ compensation when injured among other things. WWRC also serves as a community center for workers, family members and supporters interested in knowing their rights, joining with other workers to share experiences and learn from each other, and building a movement for workers’ rights in the Inland Empire and throughout Southern California.
