Wal-Mart warehouse workers in Southern California may have gone back to their temp jobs, but the revolt of warehouse employees has spread to other states.
On October 1st, a caravan of busses from Chicago joined community, faith and labor organizations in Will County to support workers on strike at the Wal-Mart warehouse in a mass mobilization in Elwood, Illinois, which is near Joliet.
The rally brought this usually invisible distribution system into the public eye to protest unfair labor practices and other abuses in the nation’s largest inland port. The rally will began in a public park on Deer Run Rd. behind the Wal-Mart warehouse located at 26453 Centerpoint Dr. in Elwood. The crowd marched to the shipping entrance of the massive warehouse and a group of clergy and community leaders sought to block the road preventing goods from coming in or leaving the warehouse.
The protesters said they were prepared to take arrest in support of the strikers demands. Workers have been on strike at the Wal-Mart warehouse since September 15, 2012.
The unfair labor practice strike was triggered by management’s illegal retaliation against workers attempting to present the company their concerns about wage theft (not giving workers their full pay for time spent), unsafe conditions and discrimination. They are demanding an end to retaliation against workers who speak up about poor conditions.
Warehouse workers labor under extreme temperatures, lifting thousands of boxes that can weigh up to 250lbs each. Workplace injuries are commonplace; workers rarely earn a living wage or have any benefits. Warehouse Workers for Justice is an Illinois worker center dedicated to fighting for quality jobs in the distribution industry that can sustain families and communities.
These striking workers are members of the Warehouse Worker Organizing Committee. For more background on this labor unrest, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/events/134479746698633/
Wal-Mart warehouse workers in Southern California may have gone back to their temp jobs, but the revolt of warehouse employees has spread to other states.
