L.A. warehouse workers describe horrifying conditions, join strike line

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9ABiyYePSo1LfZEFLV9K7t6pQBItq27JIffI-S0GNTYFzC88nPWbhBIiNglBsilyvd_5a9ggRIZS0-RJHvEFcaijL-uAtA4_T6aaq9GmZGh3Z0HC2Q9CkWKs2m-eaeQNi9pkb6vt_ym4/s1600/Teamster+warehouse+workers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9ABiyYePSo1LfZEFLV9K7t6pQBItq27JIffI-S0GNTYFzC88nPWbhBIiNglBsilyvd_5a9ggRIZS0-RJHvEFcaijL-uAtA4_T6aaq9GmZGh3Z0HC2Q9CkWKs2m-eaeQNi9pkb6vt_ym4/s400/Teamster+warehouse+workers.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warehouse workers, striking port drivers and Teamsters walk the line yesterday.</td></tr></tbody></table>Workers at two dangerous California warehouses that move <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OURWMT" rel="nofollow">Walmart</a> goods marched with <a href="http://teamster.org/" rel="nofollow">Teamsters</a> and port drivers striking their facility yesterday. The port drivers walked off the job in their fight against payroll fraud and poverty wages, while the warehouse workers joined the picket to protest their horrific working conditions.<br /><br />Our friends at <a href="http://www.warehouseworkersunited.org/lalong-beach-port-warehouse-workers-at-massive-walmart-contracted-facilities-face-daily-danger/" rel="nofollow">Warehouse Workers United</a> tell us about those conditions: workers trapped inside containers, blocked exits, men and women sharing one bathroom and inadequate safety gear. On Friday, the workers filed complaints with  the <a href="http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/" rel="nofollow">California Division of Occupational Safety and Health</a>, or Cal/OSHA. On Monday they spoke out. It was the first time non-union warehouse workers exposed working conditions in the port area.<br /><br />The two warehouses are in Carson, Calif. They are Pacer International, Inc., and American Logistics International, Inc. <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/11/port-drivers-who-haul-for-walmart-strike-in-la-with-Teamster-support.html" rel="nofollow">Port drivers, supported by Teamsters</a>, walked off the job at American Logistics International yesterday.<br /><br />According to Warehouse Workers United:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Warehouse workers are told to clean a mysterious oil-like substance, men and women must share a single bathroom and workers are forced to illuminate dark shipping containers with the light on their cell phones at massive Walmart-contracted warehouses near the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles... </blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq">“We deserve a safe work place where we are treated with dignity and respect,” said Susan Gutierrez , who is a warehouse worker at American Logistics.</blockquote>It was a bad day for Walmart. Not only were port drivers who haul Walmart goods on strike, but it was announced the <a href="http://nlrb.gov/" rel="nofollow">NLRB</a> would prosecute the retailer for retaliating against 117 Walmart strikers, workers walked off the job at Walmarts in Pennsylvania and Ohio and news spread widely about a <a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=11039" rel="nofollow">Walmart's food drive for its own employees</a>.<br /><br />Couldn't happen to a nicer company.<br /><br /><br />

hunger port drivers strike walmart warehouse worker safety L.A. warehouse workers describe horrifying conditions, join strike line

Warehouse workers, striking port drivers and Teamsters walk the line yesterday. Workers at two dangerous California warehouses that move  Wa...

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Teamsters protest retaliation at McKesson today

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ1JqCMBO3C44AA57mxPdgxyvoOQYHt9HOSY_pOMvt9V_ugWOUqP-Fus30ta4IOdwOOBBt_hguy-8IfigklPLR6FdZXJNp1DGteVvMZk1lxvMKPBBaK0fvNhGw6DYRV3w3I-hy00qbGzd-/s1600/Teamsters+protest+McKesson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ1JqCMBO3C44AA57mxPdgxyvoOQYHt9HOSY_pOMvt9V_ugWOUqP-Fus30ta4IOdwOOBBt_hguy-8IfigklPLR6FdZXJNp1DGteVvMZk1lxvMKPBBaK0fvNhGw6DYRV3w3I-hy00qbGzd-/s400/Teamsters+protest+McKesson.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teamsters protest McKesson's retaliation against Florida warehouse workers. </td></tr></tbody></table><div class="tr_bq">The Teamsters protest of McKesson Corp.'s retaliation against its Lakeland, Fla., warehouse workers is taking place right now during the company's annual shareholder meeting in San Francisco.<br /><br />Though McKesson employees voted for Teamster representation more than a year ago, the company still will not agree to a first contract that provides decent wages and affordable health care.</div><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;">McKesson, the largest pharmaceutical distributor in North America hired a union-busting law firm and has threatened and intimidated the workers rather than agree to a contract.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16.890625px;">CEO John Hammergren, meanwhile, is looting the company treasury with $131 million in compensation last year -- after McKesson paid nearly $1 billion to settle claims that it stole from taxpayers and customers through price-fixing. </span><br /><br />The Teamsters protest against retaliation at McKesson is just the latest manifestation of labor unrest that's sweeping the country. Today hundreds of fast-food workers in Chicago and Detroit walked off the job, following similar actions in New York, St. Louis and Kansas City. Teamsters are striking Gold Cross Ambulance in El Centro., Calif., to protest low wages and dangerous working conditions. The protests, strikes and rallies are fueled by anger by CEO looting. They are all aimed at the same thing: empowering workers to stand together and fight for fair treatment and living wages.<br /><br />McKesson faces not just the Teamsters protest. Investors at today's meeting are challenging the election of two directors and demanding changes to the company's compensation policy.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/edsilverman/2013/07/30/mckesson-fights-big-investors-over-a-clawback-policy/">Forbes</a> reports today:<br /><blockquote>Should one of the largest drug wholesalers have a clawback policy for executives? Two institutional investors believe the notion is overdue for McKesson MCK +0.35%, since the wholesaler has paid more than $1 billion in recent years to resolve regulatory and other legal disputes without publicly disclosing any clawback steps. Meanwhile, McKesson ceo John Hammergren received $131 million in compensation last year. </blockquote><blockquote>And so, the LongView Funds run by Amalgamated Bank and the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust are pushing a proposal to be voted on at the McKesson annual shareholder meeting tomorrow. As they see it, the move will “increase transparency, encourage executive pay-for-performance and discourage senior executives from engaging in behavior that could cause significant financial harm to the company.” </blockquote><blockquote>What do they want? The investors argue that the current McKesson policy is too weak because misconduct is defined as acts that are intentional, regardless of the degree of harm, and they maintain the existing policy sets too high a standard under which clawbacks may be applied. For instance, theft is not covered if the amount of money stolen by an exec does not materially harm the wholesaler.</blockquote>Stay tuned.

McKesson protest retaliation warehouse Teamsters protest retaliation at McKesson today

Teamsters protest McKesson's retaliation against Florida warehouse workers.  The Teamsters protest of McKesson Corp.'s retaliation a...

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