Workers at an Indiana warehouse owned by Wal-Mart on Thursday filed unfair labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the staffing agency that employs them and the company that operates the warehouse. þþThe workers allege they were forced to work without heat during the extreme cold weather earlier this year. þþThey have signed a petition asking for higher wages, a path to full time employment and a safe work environment. Two workers who asked their colleagues to sign the petition claim they were illegally fired. þþDavid Fields, one of the workers who was fired, said he began organizing his colleagues when he learned that some had worked at the warehouse for three winters without heat. þþFields said the workers didn’t complain because they work for a staffing agency without benefits or job security. Workers make about $9 per hour to load and unload boxes and $10.50 per hour to operate forklifts. þþFields is also a member of Warehouse Workers Organizing Committee, a group based in Joliet and fundedby the United Electrical union. þþThe group is part of a larger movement to unionize warehouse workers around the country, a challenging goal because many of them are temporary workers employed by staffing agencies.þþFor now, the movement is trying to transform the industry into one in which workers are hired directly by warehouse operators.þþEarlier in the year, the workers in Indiana also filed complaints with the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration alleging lack of training to operate forklifts and unsafe working conditions, such as snow in the docks that caused forklifts to slide.þþA spokesman with the agency said it received a complaint in January and opened an investigation, which has not been finalized. þþWorkers said the warehouse operator, LINC Logistics, installed space heaters after they filed the complaint with the agency. þþJohn Locke, director of operations at Oakland Logistics, a subdivision of LINC, said the company denies any wrongdoing. He added that the company doesn’t comment on pending charges or allegations. þþKory Lundberg, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said Wal-Mart expects its third party service providers to maintain legal compliance in their operations, especially with their workforce. þþMalace HR, the staffing agency, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Source: Chicago Tribune
