A class action lawsuit filed Monday by twenty Chicago area Walmart workers is just the latest action against the retail giant. Walmart is also subject to a lawsuit by Chicago area supply workers and a planned employee walkout on “Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving shopping frenzy.
There's no obvious reason these anti-Walmart initiatives are all happening now.
Robert Bruno, director of the University of Illinois-Chicago labor studies department, credits the “constant experimentation” of unions such as the United Food and Commercial Workers, or UFCW, following the failure of more traditional unionization efforts.
One local explanation for the latest flurry of actions against the retail giant is that workers have started to take advantage of a recent state law. Read more »
Employees at a giant Walmart supply warehouse in rural Will County
returned to work Saturday after staging a 21-day strike in response to
alleged employer retaliation by a Walmart subcontractor.
The settlement with RoadLink
– a California-based subcontractor that helps staff Schneider
Logistics, the Walmart warehouse in Elwood – comes amid a historic
walkout by Walmart retail workers throughout the country. It also
follows Walmart supply workers in the Los Angeles area ending their own strike. Read more »
Just days after striking warehouse workers staged a large blockade
outside a major Walmart supply warehouse in the suburbs, a group of
like-minded labor advocates marched in front of a downtown Chicago
Walmart store.
The group, lead by Chicago Jobs With Justice, contained some of the same workers who attended Monday’s rally, like Dakari Whitfield.
Whitfield told Progress Illinois
that many employees in the suburban Elmwood warehouse work in harsh
conditions indoors without good ventilation, rarely get paid on time,
and are treated badly when they complain to managers.
“It’s
an unfair labor practices strike. We’re asking for a set schedule,
benefits, and maybe transportation,” Whitfield said. “When we presented
this position, people got fired and suspended.”
Striking WalMart subcontractors joined with Chicago labor activists
Monday to effectively blockade a major WalMart supply
warehouse in the Will County town of Elwood.
Busloads of
protesters from groups like Chicago Jobs With Justice descended upon Schneider Logistics where 38 manual laborers are on strike
because, the workers say, subcontractor Roadlink committed wage theft
and illegally retaliated against a worker petition.
Will County police ticketed and arrested fifteen people for blocking a road outside the warehouse. Read more »
The following was written by Mike Reed of Sheridan, IL, courtesy of MoveOn.org.
Anyone expecting dry statistical evidence at the Warehouse Workers for Justice meeting last Thursday at Mount Carmel Church in Joliet heard instead many personal and gripping stories of sexual harassment and assault—delivered by half a dozen of the victims themselves.
Originally hailed by local chambers of commerce and city officials as a means of easing the high unemployment rate in their respective areas, local chambers of commerce and city officials assured the public that building the warehouse system would be a boon to the economy as people hired to work within such structures would be given the opportunity to earn a living wage and be accorded benefits. The picture painted was a rosy one.
Unfortunately, this system quickly turned out to benefit hardly anyone but the management and owners of these warehouses, and for a long time not only have the women employees earned far less than men who do the same work, but they have been subjected to much intimidation, both psychological and physical. Read more »
Temp jobs that offer few benefits and poverty wages. Workplace injuries and little chance for advancement. Welcome to the world of Will County's warehouse workers.
A class action lawsuit filed Monday by twenty Chicago area Walmart workers is just the latest action against the retail giant. Walmart is also subject to a lawsuit by Chicago area supply workers and a 
Employees at a giant Walmart supply warehouse in rural Will County
returned to work Saturday after staging a 21-day strike in response to
alleged employer retaliation by a Walmart subcontractor.
Just days after striking warehouse workers staged a large blockade
outside a major Walmart supply warehouse in the suburbs, a group of
like-minded labor advocates marched in front of a downtown Chicago
Walmart store.
The following was written by Mike Reed of Sheridan, IL, courtesy of MoveOn.org.
