Walmart Warehouse Strikers Return to Work with Full Back Pay
Alexandra Bradbury | October 9, 2012
Illinois warehouse workers at the heart of Walmart's supply chain won their strike this week and returned to work with safer conditions and full back pay. Their strike was one of many small walkouts around the country at both warehouses and retail stores.
Strikers have returned to work with their heads held high and their wallets full at Walmart’s largest North American distribution center. Warehouse workers in Elwood, Illinois, announced Saturday that they had won their key demand, reinstatement of all who were fired or suspended for on-the-job organizing, along with full back pay for everyone who participated in the three-week strike.
“I think there’s been a hit in Walmart’s armor,” said Phil Bailey, one of the strikers who marched triumphantly back into the warehouse in matching Warehouse Workers for Justice t-shirts. “There’s been this expectation that they can’t be damaged at all. Not true!”
The returning workers also saw immediate improvements in safety conditions in the warehouse. They finally received shin guards, which they have been requesting for some time to protect them from heavy carts, and giant ceiling fans were installed to help cool the warehouse, which can reach 120 degrees. “[Management] kept coming around asking us if we needed any additional safety equipment,” Bailey reported. “They’re a lot more polite.”
The average check for three weeks of back pay was around $900, said WWJ organizer Leah Fried. Even co-workers who had not struck, Bailey said, were proud and inspired—and envious of the back pay. Some told him they now wished they had gone out too.
http://labornotes.org/2012/10/walmart-warehouse-strikers-return-work-full-back-pay
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