Will County News

By Mary Baskerville Carriage Stone Communications JOLIET—The gathering at Sacred Heart Church on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving was equal parts fellowship and solidarity.   Practicing chants, the group gathered, held hands and joined in a prayer asking for a blessing on workers and to show support for Wal-Mart workers struggling with what the organizers say is less than a living wage, before going to Jefferson Street to march in front of the store’s entrance drive. Sue Myers of Frankfort marched in the bitterly cold wind because she wanted to show support for the workers, who deserve to paid a living wage, she said. “I feel Wal-Mart is unfair,” Pam Leddy, of Joliet, said as she stood to the entrance of Wal-Mart off Jefferson Street: “It’s a very high price to a community for their prices.” Will County Board District 5 member Reed Bible  said he was standing in “support of the Wal-Mart workers” for better wages and benefits. Will County Board Distri...

Will County is at the heart of both the nation's freight distribution system and recent action by workers to change how WalMart treats workers at its warehouses and retail stores.  Will County--where all 6 Class A Railroads meet--is home to the nation's largest inland port---two intermodals where trains bring freight from the coast for transfer to truck and distribution to a big-box store near year.  If you live in Will County you have probably seen the long intermodal trains carrying containers headed into the intermodals in Joliet and Elwood. In September 2012, workers at the massive WalMart warehouse in Elwood, Illinois went on strike for unfair labor practices.  The workers---employed through the staffing agency Roadlink to work at the WalMart warehouse which is run by Schneider Logistics---presented management with a petition about workers' concerns about wage theft, unsafe conditions, and discrimination.  Workers were told they to leave the building, and then...

Elwood, Illinois During a march and rally in support of warehouse workers who are on strike for unfair labor practices, several members of the clergy were arrested for blocking the road.   The clergy sat and formed a line in front of WalMart's giant warehouse.  The Elwood police gave several warnings that people needed to be out of the street.  The people sitting in the road were arrested by officers from the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System after those officers also gave a warning.  According to its website , the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System, " was formed in 2002  in response to the September 11th attacks as a joint venture of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.  We were created to meet the needs of local law enforcement throughout the State of Illinois in matters of mutual aid, emergency response and the combining of resources for public safety and ...

Members of Moveon.org, SEIU Health Care Workers, and members of the community joined striking warehouse workers on the picket line outside the Schneider Logistics-run WalMart distribution center in Elwood, Illinois. Strike outside the WalMart warehouse in Elwood, IL Here a striking worker explains his experience in the WalMart warehouse: Strike outside the WalMart warehouse in Elwood, IL Strike outside the WalMart warehouse in Elwood, IL About 30 workers employed by Roadlink walked off the job after being told by Roadlink management they were no longer welcome in the warehouse after the workers presented Roadlink management a petition asking for better wages and working conditions.  Roadlink supplies workers for the warehouse which is run by Schneider.   WalMart contracts Schneider to run the warehouse and Schneider in turn grants contracts to staffing companies to supply workers for the warehouse.  There are also employees who are employed directly by ...

The Huffington Post reports a group of workers who worked in Wal-Mart's distribution center in Elwood, Illinois have filed a class-action lawsuit against Schneider Logistics and Reliable Staffing claiming they were not paid what they were owed. Schneider Logistics is contracted by Wal-Mart to run the distribution warehouse in Elwood.  Reliable staffing, as reported by the Huffington Post, supplies workers for Schneider.  In a press release announcing Schneider's contract with Wal-Mart, a Wal-Mart executive was quoted as saying: ""The Elwood distribution center will provide Wal-Mart the opportunity to better serve our stores throughout the Midwest,” said Johnnie Dobbs, executive vice president of logistics and supply chain for Wal-Mart. “Our partnership with American Port Services, Schneider Logistics and Schneider National will create hundreds of good paying jobs for the region and represents our continued commitment to Illinois as a partner in both economic a...

At the Warehouse Workers for Justice Press Conference in August of 2010, Will County News had the opportunity to interview the Rev. Craig Purchase--pastor of Mt. Zion Full Gospel Tabernacle and also recent president of the local Rainbow Push Coalition--regarding how he learned about the group Warehouse Workers for Justice and the issue of temp work in Will County Warehouses. I also asked how warehouse work affects the people in his congregation and whether warehouse workers utilized the food pantry he ran.  Watch the interview below: If you would like more information, read the Warehouse Worker's Full Report, " Bad Jobs in Goods Movement: Warehouse Work in Will County, Illinois ." Also, following the release of this report by local media, John Grueling, President and CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development wrote a September 10, 2010 letter to the editor of the Joliet Herald News in which he wrote: " The logistics industry is a gro...