This week in the War on Workers: Workers file complaint against abusive Walmart-contracted warehouse

Warehouse workers in California filed a complaint with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) against a warehouse that moves goods exclusively for Walmart. The warehouse is operated by one Walmart contractor and workers are hired by two staffing agencies.

In the complaint, workers describe a workplace rife with unsafe conditions including limited or no access to clean water, high temperatures, broken equipment, and unreasonable and unsafe quotas. They are charged for required safety equipment. Workers are often blocked inside the trailers they are loading for up to 30 minutes with no exit.

The complaint alleges that workers who are injured on the job are denied access to medical care or compensated time for recovery, and are often told that they will be laid off if they can't work while injured, all in violation of California law. Workers also report a thick black dust that covers the floor of trailers and containers; they believe inhaling the dust leads to nosebleeds, vomiting and coughing blood.

Walmart typically evades responsibility for violations like these by pointing out that it does not directly operate the worst warehouses. But if everything that goes through the warehouse is headed to Walmart or Sam's Club, the retail giant can be seen to exert significant control over warehouse operations and practices. Abuses such as those alleged in this complaint are common throughout Walmart's global supply chain, and it's important to simultaneously crack down on specific instances of abuse and point out that these are not isolated instances but are tied together through Walmart.

(Continue reading about New York cable workers unionizing, "freedom to work" in Indianapolis, and much more below the fold.)