Warehouse Worker Resource Center

Improving working conditions in the warehouse industry in Southern California

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Pretty Little Liar

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Who is this woman? Last week she claimed to be “Zoe Mitchell,” a young student at USC interested in terrible and illegal conditions inside warehouses that move goods for Walmart.

Today she let her true identity slip. “Zoe Mitchell” is completely fictional. Zoe is actually Stephanie Harnett, a fake “reporter” working for Walmart.

Last week she told warehouse workers she was a “reporter” interested in their plight, but this week she revealed herself as a PR hack shilling for Walmart.

Send Walmart’s chief hack, Steve Restivo, an email and ask him why they sent a fake reporter instead of addressing the serious concerns of Southern Californians: steve.restivo@wal-mart.com

So who is this Zoe…er, Stephanie? Steph (Can we call you that?) works for Mercury, a giant PR firm that represents a lot of corporate interests. Mercury says it is about “high stakes public strategy” and is especially adept at “Latino Communications.”

So come on Steph, lying about who you are, misrepresenting yourself to workers, community members and local leaders, is that going to get you the corner office?


But, the big question is why lie? For months warehouse workers have been asking to meet with Walmart. There have been many opportunities to sit down with workers: Last year the state issued more than $1 million in fines for labor violations at warehouses where workers move goods for Walmart, UCLA conducted a study about the risky working conditions inside the warehouse, Cal/OSHA issued more than 60 violations totaling more than $250,000 in Walmart-contracted warehouses and workers at a Walmart-contracted warehouse filed a class action lawsuit that documents awful working conditions including working 362 days a years with no break and no overtime.

Last week when Walmart had the chance to talk about real issues affecting Latino workers in Southern California it instead sent “Zoe,” a fake reporter. A spy.

Our door is open. Walmart can change this industry and create thousands of good jobs and improve the quality of life in Southern California, but first it has to come out of hiding.

Oh and you can reach Steph on Twitter: @stephharnett

UPDATE: @stephharnett has deleted her account, but you can follow warehouse workers @wwunited

UPDATE 2: Walmart’s Steve Restivo issues a statement to Gawker: “Our culture of integrity is a constant at Walmart.” But it looks like Stephanie may not have been the first spy. More coverage at The Guardian, Republic Report, LAist, DailyKos, Huffington Post, LA Times, City Watch, Curbed, Business Insider, Democratic Underground, CBS, and LA Weekly

Workers Call on Walmart to Stop Cloak and Dagger Tactics

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LOS ANGELES – Warehouse workers who move Walmart goods have filed charges against Walmart and its PR firm for illegally spying on workers and are calling on the retail giant to drop Mercury Public Affairs as a contracted lobbying firm.

Workers filed charges after learning last week that a senior associate for Mercury was caught lying about her identity and spying on low-wage warehouse workers.

“We are fighting for better jobs for warehouse workers in Southern California,” said Santos Castaneda, a warehouse worker who was interviewed by a Mercury Public Affairs senior associate posing as a student journalist. “Warehouse workers risk retaliation every time we speak to the media and to learn that the company was hiding behind a fake reporter makes me really mad.”

Walmart has paid tens of thousands of dollars to Mercury to lobby for an unpopular new store in LA’s Chinatown After the scandal was revealed last week, Walmart spokesperson Steve Restivo said in a statement:

“These actions were unacceptable, misleading and wrong. Our culture of integrity is a constant at Walmart and by not properly identifying herself, this individual’s behavior was contrary to our values and the way we do business. We insist that all our vendors conduct themselves in a way that is transparent and honest and we will reinforce that expectation to help ensure this type of activity is not repeated.”

According to its “Statement of Ethics,” Walmart’s guiding principles include “always act with integrity,” “lead with integrity,” “expect others to work with integrity” and “follow the law at all times.”

“If Walmart truly is concerned about integrity it will fire Mercury Public Affairs after learning its senior associate lied about her identity,” said Guadalupe Palma, a campaign director for Warehouse Workers United, an organization committed to improving warehousing jobs in Southern California. “We are asking that Walmart to drop this firm and deal honestly with workers and the people of Los Angeles.”

“We want Walmart to disclose why it sent a fake reporter, why she was taking notes and what she did with the information. More importantly we want to know how Walmart is dealing with its renegade contractors. No one has been held accountable in the Mexico bribery scandal, for the treatment of warehouse workers, and now with its PR firm.”

Just in the last few months several major developments call into question Walmart’s claim that it fosters a “culture of integrity”:

  • Walmart is currently embroiled in a massive bribery scandal in Mexico in which The New York Times uncovered millions of dollars of bribes associated with massive expansion throughout Mexico.
  • The National Employment Law Project released a detailed report this month about Walmart’s massive adverse effects on Latino warehouse workers in Southern California who labor moving Walmart goods.
  • Major pension funds have sued Walmart for its failed leadership and lack of transparency in the wake of the bribery scandal in Mexico.
  • The website gawker.com revealed a pattern of Walmart using PR firms to spy on activists and concerned community members and to report back to its home office in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The charges were filed with the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board, which prohibits spying on workers. Workers are also requesting that the U.S. Department of Labor investigate whether Mercury and Walmart have properly disclosed their spending as required by the law.

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

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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.

Líderes Latinas de Los Ángeles revelan nuevos detalles sobre los efectos negativos de Walmart en la economía local

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LOS ANGELES – Los grandes minoristas como Walmart están bajando los salarios y las normas de seguridad laboral en una escala mucho mayor que la conocida anteriormente, reporta un informe publicado hoy por El Proyecto Nacional de Empleo.

La explosión de la “externalización domestica”, la práctica agresiva de contratación de prestación de almacenamiento, transportación y entrega de mercancías a una compleja jerarquía de contratistas y subcontratistas, ha bajado la calidad de los empleos en el sur de California y ha impactado desproporcionadamente a los latinos que trabajan aquí.

Según el informe “ Cadena de Codicia”: “Walmart establece los parámetros para las condiciones de trabajo en (bodegas) … Pero cuando las cosas no funcionan, son los contratistas que son culpados, mientras que Walmart se deslinda de la responsabilidad por sus acciones y la de su influencia sobre aquellos que forman parte en su masiva cadena de suministro. ”

Cientos de millones de toneladas de mercancía entran a los Estados Unidos cada año a través de los puertos más activos de nuestro país en Long Beach y Los Ángeles. Los contenedores son transportados luego a través de la cuenca de Los Ángeles hacia el Inland Empire, San Bernardino y Riverside, donde alrededor de 85.000 trabajadores de bodegas, en su mayoría latinos, descargan y cargan productos en camiones con destino a puntos de venta.

“Cadena de codicia”, el informe publicado por NELP, detalla cómo la influencia de Walmart en toda la logística y las industrias de fabricación ha dado lugar a una creciente dependencia de los trabajadores temporales que se les paga el salario mínimo o menos, lo que mantiene artificialmente bajos los costos de mano de obra, y enmascara la responsabilidad de estas condiciones de trabajo.

“A fin de continuar a aumentar sus negocios, los subcontratistas deben modelar sus negocios como Walmart”, dijo María Elena Durazo, secretaria-tesorera ejecutiva de la Federación Laboral del Condado de Los Ángeles. “Eso significa la reducción constante de los estándares, la reducción de los salarios y atajos, a pesar que esto conlleva a condiciones de trabajo peligrosas. Los trabajadores llevan la peor parte de este modelo insostenible”.

Cada año, tiendas como Walmart exigen más por menos de sus contratistas.

“Walmart encontró la manera de desviar el peso fuera del minorista y mover los riesgos económicos hacia abajo de la cadena de suministro y ultimadamente recargando el peso sobre todo la mano de obra latina”, dijo Guadalupe Palma, directora de Trabajadores De Bodegas Unidos, una organización comprometida a mejorar la calidad de los trabajos de bodegas. “Walmart es responsable de las condiciones ilegales de trabajo y los bajos salarios en las bodegas que mueven sus bienes. El cambio de esta industria significa la creación de miles de buenos empleos y mejorar la calidad de vida en el sur de California. ”

Para Angélica Salas, directora ejecutiva de la Coalición Pro-Derechos Humanos de los Inmigrantes, la conclusión del informe de que la externalización domestica impone un peaje especialmente grave en los trabajadores latinos en el sur de California y en todo los EE.UU. es sorprendente.

“Los latinos en esta industria se enfrentan a salarios muy bajos y poco respeto por las normas básicas de seguridad en el trabajo. Vemos “externalización domestica” en muchos sectores como la agricultura y la limpieza, donde la gente hace el trabajo duro en gran medida fuera de la vista. Arrojar luz sobre las malas condiciones de trabajo conducirá a mejores, vidas más humanas para una gran parte de nuestra población”.

David Acosta, padre de tres hijos, describió su experiencia de trabajo en las bodegas del sur de California.

“Hemos trabajado largas jornadas, a menudo 16 horas sin interrupciones, no hay tiempo para el almuerzo y no pagan horas extras. Sabíamos que estaba mal, pero parecía que no había nadie con quien hablar para mejorarlo. Las cosas empezaron a cambiar cuando permanecimos unidos ante las represalias. ”

El informe hace un llamado por las recomendaciones específicas para crear “una mayor transparencia y rendición de cuentas dentro de esta cadena de logísticas de varias capas”, incluyendo una mejor aplicación de las leyes vigentes y la adición de bodegas a la legislación actual que protege a los trabajadores subcontratados en la industria tales como el trabajo de limpieza y agrícola. También refuerza el llamado de Trabajadores de Bodegas Unidos que piden a Walmart que adopte una póliza significativa de contratista responsable que ponga fin a las condiciones abusivas en las bodegas contratadas por Walmart.

Happy Mother’s Day from Warehouse Workers United

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Martha Medina is a mother and a warehouse worker in San Bernardino, California.

Here is her Mother’s Day message:

“I came to this country to help support my mother. From the second you first open your eyes as a newborn you see your mother. She gives you the strength and wisdom to live. Now I support my mother and my two sons as well as my nieces and nephews.

“It hasn’t been easy. Temperatures inside the warehouse are high, there is a lot of pressure to work fast, conditions are dangerous and pay is low. Our work is unreliable. I worked through my pregnancy with my second child. There was no respect for my pregnancy and I was constantly worried.

“Pero Madres Son Luchadores, Como Yo.”

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