Direct & Temp Workers Stand Together to Force Cal Cartage and the Agency they to Provide All Workers with their CalOSHA Mandated Steel Toed Boots.

Ending weeks of uncertainty Cal Cartage and AMR/SSI Staffing decided to provide all of their workers with steel toe boots to comply with the recent CalOSH citation (see recent story).  While Cal Cartage had provided steel toed boots to those workers who were directly employed by the company, those employed by the staffing agency were told they would need to provide their own boots, at their expense – in direct violation of OSHA regulations.

Workers responded by leafleting their co-workers and initiating delegations to both Cal Cartage and staffing agency representatives.  In a sign of solidarity direct hires stood by their staffing agency co-workers and refused to let either side off the hook.

The company threatened to take away holiday pay if they provided boots to their agency workers.  Eventually, they were made to see the error of their ways and relented and this week provided boots to everyone equally.

The warehouse workers will remain vigilant should the company try to take away any of their meager benefits to pay for the boots.