latino workers

Sign Our Letter, Help Workers

September 7, 2012 by dean

My name is Marta Medina and I am a warehouse worker. In the five years I worked in a warehouse, I learned to tolerate dangerous and unjust working conditions.

One of the most humiliating experiences happened four years ago when I was eight months pregnant. I received a Walmart order to ship 2,000 boxes in one hour. I could barely lift any boxes and I felt like I might lose my baby. The whole time I was thinking: “Please baby stay in there.” I was also thinking of my family in El Salvador. My little boy is there. He is 11-years-old. I need to provide for him so I couldn’t risk complaining and losing my job. All I could do is hold my stomach and ask God for help. My employer didn’t care about the pain I was in.

After my caesarian, I returned to work and my supervisor said to me: “I don’t care that you had surgery. You’re here to work and if not, you can leave. There is plenty to replace you and do the job better.”

This is not right. No one should have to work in dangerous conditions and worry about their children and about losing a job if you speak up. It was a difficult time in my life, but now I have hope. I am working with other warehouse workers to improve our jobs and our lives and bring respect to all warehouse workers.

This September we will march from the warehouses in Riverside to Downtown Los Angeles. Please support our pilgrimage for dignity on the job. If you can’t march with workers and our families you can sign the letter we plan to deliver to Walmart when we arrive in the city.

Si Se Puede!

Workers File Detailed Complaint to End Dangerous Working Conditions at Critical Walmart-Contracted Warehouse

July 18, 2012 by dean

LOS ANGELES – Warehouse workers required to work inside dark, hot, metal shipping containers with little ventilation or water under pressure to meet high quotas in the face of frequent injury filed a complaint with the state agency responsible for workplace conditions Wednesday. (Español aquí)

Workers at a warehouse that moves goods exclusively for Walmart filed a complaint with California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) detailing more than a dozen serious violations. Cal/OSHA is the state agency responsible for protecting workers from safety hazards.

“I’m not just doing this for me and my family,” said Jose Gonzalez. “I am doing this for everyone who works at the warehouse. What we deal with is not fair, it’s not humane. I am not afraid. We have to say something.”

Warehouse workers staff the facility 24 hours a day, seven days a week unloading Walmart goods from shipping containers that arrive primarily from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and then loading the goods onto long-haul trucks destined for Walmart or Sam’s Club, a subsidiary of Walmart, stores. The warehouse is operated by National Distribution Centers of Delaware, Inc. Two staffing agencies, Warestaff, LLC, and Select Staffing, Inc., supply most of the workers on site.

In the complaint, workers describe a workplace rife with unsafe conditions including limited or no access to clean water, high temperatures, broken equipment, and unreasonable and unsafe quotas. They are charged for required safety equipment. Workers are often blocked inside the trailers they are loading for up to 30 minutes with no exit.

The complaint alleges that workers who are injured on the job are denied access to medical care or compensated time for recovery, and are often told that they will be laid off if they can’t work while injured, all in violation of California law. Workers also report a thick black dust that covers the floor of trailers and containers; they believe inhaling the dust leads to nosebleeds, vomiting and coughing blood.

“It is hard to believe these working conditions exist in Southern California,” said Guadalupe Palma, a campaign director for Warehouse Workers United. “In every warehouse that moves Walmart goods where workers have come forward we have found complaints of unsafe working conditions. This complaint is intended to improve working conditions for warehouse workers in Southern California.”

Warehouse Workers United is an organization committed to improving the quality of life and jobs in Southern California’s Inland Empire. More than 85,000 warehouse workers work moving goods for major retailers like Walmart in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

The complaint comes on the heels of news that four weeks after seafood workers in Louisiana went on strike to end forced labor at Walmart supplier C.J.’s Seafood, Walmart suspended its contract with C.J.’s pending its own investigation – adding further evidence of serious labor violations in Walmart’s supply chain.

Also in June, the National Employment Law Project released a scathing new report that documents abuses in Walmart contract warehouses in Southern California and details how Walmart’s business practices adversely affect Latino workers here. Following the release of the NELP report, an employee of Mercury Public Affairs, the L.A. PR firm hired by Walmart, was caught spying on warehouse workers. The employee was subsequently fired by Mercury, which in turn had its contract terminated by Walmart.

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Extreme Pressure, Constant Injuries and Retaliation

July 1, 2012 by dean

Workers Bravely Call for Safety on the Job

Mire abajo para Español.

These five warehouse workers routinely work with broken, unsafe equipment, under extreme pressure to work faster and are frequently injured.

June 30 they led a group of 50 workers and supporters to call for a safer workplace and specific resolutions to serious problems they face on the job.

This is no small thing. In the warehouse where they work moving Walmart goods hundreds of workers must lift up to 400 boxes an hour in extreme heat using broken equipment. There is little access to water, they are frequently denied breaks, supervisors yell and the rate of injury is high.

If you complain about these conditions, most likely you will be fired. If you are injured on the job you will likely be told to go home without medical treatment or compensation. If you are hurt for too long, most likely you will be told not to return.

Presión extrema, lesiones constantes y represalias

Trabajadores valientemente demandan seguridad en el trabajo

Estos cinco trabajadores de bodegas, normalmente trabajan con equipo roto e inseguro y bajo presión extrema de trabajar más rápido y frecuentemente se lesionan.

El 30 de Junio ellos encabezaron un grupo de 50 trabajadores para demandar un lugar de trabajo más seguro y resoluciones especificas a problemas graves que enfrentan en el trabajo.

Esto no es algo leve, en la bodega donde trabajan moviendo mercancía de Walmart, cientos de trabajadores deben de levantar hasta 400 cajas por hora, bajo un calor extremo usando equipo roto. Hay poco acceso a agua, frecuentemente se les niegan los descansos, enfrentan gritos de sus supervisores y la cantidad de lesiones es alto.

Si se quejan de esas condiciones, existe una gran posibilidad de ser despedido.

Si se lesionan en el trabajo es probable que les digan que se vayan a casa sin tratamiento médico o compensación.

Si estas lastimado por largo tiempo, es muy probable que se te digan que no regreses a trabajar.

“No estoy haciendo esto solo por mí y mi familia”, dijo Jose Gonzalez. “Estoy haciendo esto por todos los que trabajan en las bodegas. Con lo que lidiamos no es justo, no es humano. No tengo miedo. Tenemos que decir algo.”

“When I was pregnant, they laughed at my concerns.”

June 29, 2012 by dean

By Marta Medina

This weekend I plan to join thousands of people in Chinatown in Los Angeles. We are concerned about working conditions that affect people like me who make sure Walmart’s shelves are stocked.

It means a lot for me to be there Saturday. I want people to know about the hard work warehouse workers do and the intense pressure we face moving Walmart goods.

I am going to speak on stage so that people learn about what it means to work in a warehouse.

I worked in the warehouse for about five years moving Walmart products out of containers that come from Asia. I even worked through my pregnancy with my son Chris. The work is really hard and to do it while pregnant made it even harder. I thought the agency that we work for would respect the fact that I was pregnant and I would be allowed to modify my work, but they didn’t care. I had to do the same work as always even though I was pregnant. A lot of times when women become pregnant they are fired so it was very difficult for me — I needed my job to support my family, but I was also thinking about my baby and hoping that nothing would happen to him.

Walmart is particularly hard because of the high quantities and fast pace. I remember one day we had to move thousands of boxes in just a short time. That was the requirement and I had to do it even though I was pregnant.

Because of the tension I had an emergency caesarean. I had to go back to work almost immediately after my son was born, while I was still recovering, but the managers didn’t care. They laughed at my concerns.

Right now I am injured. We lift heavy boxes, 50-75 pounds or more for eight hours a day. That takes a toll on your body.

This story is hard for me to recount. It makes me sad and it makes me angry, but more than anything I worry that if I don’t tell people they will not know about warehouse workers. We work in huge windowless buildings in San Bernardino and Riverside. Temperatures are high, we are exposed to lots of chemicals and we don’t always get breaks or access to clean water, but with peoples’ attention and support I know we can change our jobs for the better and make sure we work in a safe environment.

Workers Unite to Stop Extreme Pressure

June 27, 2012 by dean

Wearing a t-shirt may seem like a small thing…but it means a lot when you work in a warehouse.

Today , these courageous workers showed they are united in the face of retaliation to stop extreme pressure on the job, unsafe working conditions and disrespect in Walmart-contracted warehouses.

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Usar una camiseta podría verse como algo insignificante…pero significa mucho cuando trabajas en una bodega.

Hoy, estos trabajadores valientes demostraron que están unidos enfrentando represalias para poner un paro a la extrema presión en el trabajo, condiciones de trabajo peligrosas y falta de respeto en bodegas contratadas de Walmart.

LA Latina Leaders Reveal New Details about Walmart’s Negative Effects on the Local Economy

June 8, 2012 by dean

LOS ANGELES — Major retailers like Walmart are driving down wages and workplace safety standards on a scale far greater than understood before, a report released today by the National Employment Law Project shows.

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.

According to “Chain of Greed”: “Walmart sets the parameters for the working conditions in (warehouses)…But when things go wrong, it’s the contractors that are blamed, while Walmart skirts responsibility for its actions and accountability for its influence over those engaged in its massive supply chain.”

Hundreds of millions of tons of goods enter the United States every year through our nation’s busiest ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles. Containers are then trucked through the Los Angeles basin to the Inland Empire, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, where roughly 85,000 warehouse workers, mostly Latino, unpack and reload items onto trucks destined for retail outlets.

“Chain of Greed,” the report released by NELP, details how Walmart’s influence over the entire logistics and manufacturing industries has led to increasing reliance on temporary workers who are often paid minimum wage or less, which keeps labor costs artificially low and masks responsibility for these working conditions.

“In order to continue to win business, subcontractors must model their businesses like Walmart,” said Maria Elena Durazo, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. “That means consistently lowering standards, lowering wages and cutting corners even if it means dangerous working conditions. Workers bear the brunt of this unsustainable model.”

Every year retailers like Walmart require more for less from their contractors.

“Walmart figured out how to shift the burden off the retailer and move economic risks lower down the supply chain ultimately to a low-paid, mostly Latino workforce ,” said Guadalupe Palma, a campaign director for Warehouse Workers United, an organization committed to improving the quality of warehouse jobs. “Walmart is responsible for the illegal working conditions and low wages at the warehouses that move its goods. Changing this industry means creating thousands of good jobs and improving the quality of life in Southern California.”

For Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, the report’s conclusion that domestic outsourcing imposes an especially severe toll on Latino and immigrant workers in Southern California and around the U.S. is striking.

“Latinos and immigrants in this industry are facing extremely low wages and little regard for basic workplace safety standards. We see “domestic outsourcing” in many sectors like agriculture, janitorial and cleaning where people do hard work largely out of sight. Shedding light on poor labor conditions will lead to better, more humane lives for a huge part of our population.”

David Acosta, father of three young children, described his experience working inside Southern California warehouses.

“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.”

The report calls for specific recommendations to create “greater transparency and accountability within these multi-layered hydra-like logistics chains” including better enforcement of existing laws and adding warehousing to current law that protects workers in subcontracted industries like as janitorial and agricultural work. It also reinforces Warehouse Workers United’s calls for Walmart to adopt a meaningful responsible contractor policy that would end abusive conditions in Walmart contracted warehouses.

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