Bissell Workers Fight: for Their Jobs
2009David Bernt 2009-12The page as the paper published it (Wayback Machine) →
From the paper's own web edition, recovered from the Internet Archive: the text as the paper put it online, not machine-read. The printed issue of December 2009 is also here: the scanned issue.
by David Bernt / December 2009
CHICAGO—Seventy warehouse workers near Joliet, Ill., are fighting for their jobs after being fired en masse after the workers filed for union representation. The workers are employed in a warehouse owned by giant vacuum cleaner company Bissell Homecare.
Workers were fed up with their employer’s violation of workers’ rights. On Oct, 29 the workers informed the employer that they had joined the United Electrical Workers (UE). The workers also filed legal complaints and charges regarding violations of federal and state labor law including the Fair Labor Standards Act which governs minimum wage laws; the Day Labor And Temporary Services Act, an Illinois state law that regulates temporary employment agencies’ the National Labor Relations Act, which includes workers right to union representation; and the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination.
On Nov. 6 all 70 employees were fired in retaliation. The warehouse is managed by Maersk Distribution, and the workers themselves are employed through a temp agency called Roadlink. Bissell warehouse workers and supporters, including workers from the successful Republic Windows and Doors factory occupation, held a rally outside the warehouse two days later, and UE and Warehouse Workers for Justice, a workers’ rights center initiated by UE, have organized a letter writing campaign to both Bissell and Maersk demanding that the workers be rehired.
Supporters of the workers held a rally outside of Bissell’s headquarters in Grand Rapids, Mich. These actions have already had an impact. Feeling the pressure of the movement, Roadlink decided to continue to pay workers in accordance with the WARN act.
Warehouse Workers for Justice has launched a campaign to educate and assist workers in the massive warehouse districts in Chicago’s suburbs. Like Bissell’s warehouse, most of these facilities employ workers through temp agencies. Pay and working conditions are appalling.
A victory for the Bissell warehouse workers would be a major step forward for all warehouse workers in the Chicago area. For more information on the campaign and how to help visit www.warehouseworker.org.