Walmart 'They shout at you and harass you': how workers toil at Walmart's US sup

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/25/walmart-supply-chain-warehouses

Staff complain of abject working conditions at Walmart's supply warehouses, but it merely a symptom of ruthless cost-cutting?

• Juan De Lara: the human cost of our low-priced goods: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/25/walmart-human-cost-low-price-goods



NFI Crossdock in Ontario, California – part of a vast network of warehouses at the heart of Walmart's American supply chain. Photograph: Robert Yager for the Guardian


None of the workers loading and unloading Walmart goods at the NFI Crossdock warehouse know exactly what is in the layer of black dust that seems to cover almost everything. But they know its effects.

Their throats burn, and their eyes water. For a few, it gets worse. "I go and blow my nose, and blood comes out with the black dust," said Jose Gonzalez, pictured, a "lumper" at the warehouse, who shifts several hundred Walmart-bound boxes every hour. "Even blowing my nose in the shower, blood comes out. When you spit, sometimes blood comes out," Gonzalez added.



Yet the dust is just one complaint at NFI Crossdock, part of a vast network of warehouses clustered in the Inland Empire: a stretch of southern California desert that now lies at the heart of Walmart's American supply chain.

The NFI Crossdock near the city of Ontario – where lumpers like Gonzalez toil in 100F heat – sits in the middle of a vast lot of trucks, many of them emblazoned with Walmart logos. The warehouse unloads shipping containers arriving at California ports, and loads them again on trucks taking goods to Walmart stores across America. It is back-breaking work, with strict quotas, low wages and few benefits.

FULL story at link.

[southernyankeebelle]

1. Wonder if it is like that coal dust you find in mines? I'd worry if I were employee.

I am willing to bet everyone of those employees have life insurance on them going to the company and not the families.

[Mnemosyne]

4. Lead dust from China, IMHO. nt

[southernyankeebelle]

6. Gosh either way it is terrible. China won't have to use bullets on invasion. All they

have to do is put dangerous things in the workplace without firing a bullet. Aren't corporations just grand. I do corporation (especially people like Mittens) sleep well at night. I mean if this isn't Scrooge incarnation I don't know what is.

[Mnemosyne]

7. Poisoning their enemies slowly is a credible theory, imho.

Let's hope the Ghosts of Immoral and Unethical Businessmen Past visits their rotten souls every night!

[southernyankeebelle]

8. Amen to that.

[freshwest]

2. Thank goodness for the UK and the Guardian. The silence on this side of the pond is disgusting.

[BlueJazz]

3. Where in the hell is OSHA in all of this.? Christ, when people start expelling blood, the ...

....Powers-that-be should at least check on what's going on.

But of course, it's Walmart, that vestige of American caring and loving.

[Sherman A1]

5. Sad

but hardly a surprise considering it's Wal Mart. I urge everyone to read the entire article & to get the word out about the high human cost to those supposedly everyday low prices.

[JustinAhalpern]

9. You don't need to be a reporter to get the truth out

All you need is a blog and a cellphone camera.
Is Wal-mart going to start confiscating cellphones?