Thursday, August 22, 2013

Workers Challenge The System

Working in a warehouse

Warehouse Workers For Justice And Food Chain Workers' Alliance

Wal-Mart - the name is synonymous with low prices and exploitation of workers
around the world. Whether it’s a burning building in Bangladesh, or warehouse
workers in the US working in unsafe workplaces, Wal-Mart can be found as
the culprit.
I was one of those warehouse workers. My name is Uylonda Dickerson. I worked at a Wal-Mart warehouse outside of Chicago, Illinois from 2009-2010. I loaded and unloaded trucks filled with merchandise. My schedule varied
frequently, it all depended on how much merchandise was on that truck. I worked anywhere from 4-12 hours a day. While working there, I never made more than $200 a week. On top of that, I was the only female in the warehouse, and my co-workers made comments about my body and made sexual advances on me.
I was also constantly being watched by my supervisor. He would stand outside
the bathroom and time how long I was in there. It got so bad that I stopped us-
ing the bathroom, and then I got a really bad bladder infection. I got tired of
harassment and surveillance. I left the warehouse and began to organize with
Warehouse Workers for Justice (WWJ), a worker center. I realized that there
were many warehouse workers suffering the same injustices and that we
could stand together to change it all.

As a member of WWJ, I participated in a worker leaders’ retreat with the Food
Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA), an organization bringing together workers
across the food system. At this retreat, I was able to hear the stories of other
workers and learned that we all have the same struggle. To me, the FCWA is
important because it is bringing workers together from different workplaces and
helping them join together to challenge and change our current food system.

from here

Whatever our work, wherever it is, we all have the same struggle. Socialism is about the overall struggle, bringing together workers from every situation, from every land, from every discipline in order to challenge and change the entrenched capitalist system in the interests of all.

No comments: