Zero hour looms for controversial California warehousing bill

[ABFwife]

On Aug. 31, the California legislature passed and sent to Gov. Brown Assembly Bill 1855. Introduced earlier this year by Norma Torres, a Democrat representing California's 61st district, which includes Pomona, Montclair, Ontario, and Chino, the bill requires temporary agencies that staff warehouses and DCs in California to produce documentation—such as signed contracts—to prove they comply with state law and have sufficient funds to pay the temporary workers they provide to warehouse operators.

About 68,300 third-party warehouse and storage workers are employed statewide, according to data from the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA), a trade group representing third-party operators of warehouses and DCs. About one-fourth of those are employed in the fast-growing region east of Los Angeles known as the "Inland Empire." Most of the alleged abuses being targeted by the Torres bill occur in this region.

Zero hour looms for controversial California warehousing bill – DC Velocity

[ABFwife]

I have posted articles in the past about this very area. The articles had mentioned that Walmart and Target were one of the biggest abusers of their workers in these warehouses.

Investigators, Workers Cite Labor Abuses in Warehouse Empire | Business Ethics

[ABFwife]

As California Warehouses Grow, Labor Issues Are a Concern

I am so glad I don't live in this area anymore. We already had the worst smog in the nation, now add thousands of low paying jobs to live in a very expensive state. When I live here, it was Ontario (mentioned in the article) that was building one warehouse after another. They must have run out of room and moved further east. That is the way things are done in this state.

By most estimates, Inland Empire, with its $300 billion piece of the industry, is the country’s most bustling trade gateway. Lured by “cheap dirt,” as many here put it, companies are only increasing their demands for large tracts of land in the region.

Still reeling from the economic downturn, many community leaders in the Inland Empire say they are desperate for jobs, particularly for low-skilled workers, many of whom lost their jobs in construction after the housing collapse. They see the region’s warehouses and related delivery industries — which now employ an estimated 200,000 people, more than Salt Lake City’s population — as the best way out of the doldrums, seeing salvation in the form of shipping containers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/us...rssnyt&emc=rss

[222lifer]

Alll good things come to those who stand in solidarity.

[ABFwife]

I moved the Walmart posts that were in this thread to the Walmart Strike thread.

ABFwife