 Did you know warehousing and manufacturing facilities have been the leading source of COVID-19 infections in Illinois after nursing homes? Warehouse workers have kept the economy running during this pandemic and deserve the opportunity to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. This is why WWJ launched our Worker Outreach Program website.
We’re all struggling to regroup from COVID-19 in many different ways. Through the Worker Outreach Program, we’re here with information, resources, and support for workers and their loved ones about vaccination and other crucial needs right now — like keeping folks housed as eviction moratoriums expire. The Worker Outreach Program is also partnering with the Illinois Department of Public Health to bring safe, free vaccines to workers and their families across Will County and Kankakee County. Our website includes information about getting the COVID-19 vaccine, details about upcoming community pop-up vaccination clinics, and additional resources. It also includes a registration sign-up form to get vaccinated. Currently, the primary focus of our website is to get workers and their loved ones vaccinated and to ultimately protect our communities against the virus. We will continue to add more information, resources, and support that workers can use to protect themselves against COVID-19, eviction, workplace discrimination, and more. We’re excited about the launch of our Worker Outreach Program website (special thanks to Woods Fund Chicago for making this possible), and we hope it can be a valuable resource for you and for our communities.  Jobs that poison our air and water aren’t “good” no matter how much they pay. Warehousing and logistics have brought hundreds of thousands of diesel trucks to Will County, polluting the air and contributing to rising rates of respiratory diseases like asthma. In March of 2021, Warehouse Workers for Justice launched ‘Transit Justice,’ a four-part virtual event series on the problem of diesel pollution and why we need a just transition that holds companies accountable for protecting workers and the environment.
For too long, we have let the powerful warehousing and distribution industries profit off the backs of our communities, exploiting our people, depleting our resources, and polluting our air in the process. It’s time to build a truly worker-centered movement for environmental justice that is led by and for working class communities and prioritizes a just transition to good, green jobs. Will County, IL is a national warehousing and distribution hub, home to the nation’s largest inland port. 3.5% of the US GDP passes through Will County every year. Amazon, Walmart, and other giant multinational retailers are dependent on Will County warehouse workers, but workers never see the wealth they create. Low wages, precarious jobs, and few health and safety protections in the middle of a global pandemic are the norm — all while thousands of trucks pollute the air that workers and their families breathe. But it doesn’t have to stay this way — when workers and communities organize, we have the power to demand change that protects our livelihoods and our planet. Nothing moves without us! We invite you to watch our past events on-demand and join us in upcoming events on Facebook Live to talk about how to hold some of the world’s wealthiest corporations accountable to our people and our planet. Transit Justice: An Event Series:
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Essential warehouse workers have been on the frontlines of the COVID pandemic making sure we have the goods that we need to survive, all while coming together to fight for better working and living conditions. WWJ and our friends are celebrating warehouse workers organizing to fight for a better future for all. Don’t miss out the livestream benefit featuring theses artists:
2nd WWJ Songs of Solidarity Warehouse Worker Virtual Concert
Songs of Support for Warehouse Workers brings together musical artists from Chicago and all over to show solidarity with essential supply chain workers fighting for fair pay, safe working conditions, and just labor practices. Here’s a video of last year’s event:
Funds raised during the concert will support the organizing work of Warehouse Workers for Justice. Join us for our second Songs of Solidarity for Warehouse Workers Virtual Concert event with the beloved Hideout Inn. We hope to see you there and celebrate with you then. If you can't make it, you can still show your support by making a donation. Warehouse Workers for Justice is seeking Worker Protection Community Health Workers to conduct in-person outreach to warehouse workers in Will and Kankakee Counties about COVID-19 safety and vaccination. This is a temporary full-time position starting immediately until October 31, 2021. WWJ is a worker center organizing warehouse workers to build power and create stable, family-supporting jobs in the warehousing and distribution industry. We support workers in organizing around workplace issues and accessing legal help when their rights have been violated.
Community Health Workers will perform the following job duties:
Requirements:
Compensation
To apply, please email your resume and cover letter with title “Worker Protection Community Health Workers to roberto@warehouseworker.org and elizabeth@warehouseworker.org  Together with our allies at the Chicago Workers' Collaborative, National Legal Advocacy Network, and Partners for Dignity & Rights (formerly NESRI), WWJ recently released a new research report, Opening the Door: Ending Racial Discrimination in Industrial Temp Hiring Through Innovative Enforcement.
The report details the ongoing discrimination against Black temp agency workers, the way temp agencies use discrimination to drive down wages for all workers, and the need for new enforcement mechanisms to ensure that this rampant and ongoing problem is addressed. The report release has been highlighted in the Chicago Sun Times, Telemundo Chicago, and WBEZ.  To: Governor J.B. Pritzker
From: Warehouse Workers for Justice Governor Pritzker, The highly-contested Northpoint project to build a massive industrial warehouse complex in Will County, anticipating heightened traffic congestion and more diesel pollution, relies on a proposed bridge spanning a stretch of land in Elwood which electeds and residents alike have rejected. Elwood and the broader Will County community would be most impacted by the effects of a massive industrial project like Northpoint and their autonomy to welcome or deny this project should be respected. Municipalities deserve to be in control of their own decisions about land use and development, especially when it comes to expanding an industry which has already been incredibly harmful to the region. The existing landscape of ever-expanding manufacturing, distribution, and logistics sites in Will County has already been linked to major health and safety concerns. Community members are experiencing heightened rates of asthma and the added truck traffic from this project would further increase pollution, releasing harmful diesel particles into the air. Truck traffic has also proven dangerous to drivers, with the last IDOT study attributing 43% of car crashes in Elwood to semi-trucks. Bringing in more trucks would make the hyper-congested roadways even more dangerous for residents. Northpoint seeks to enter an already industry-heavy area and worsen existing threats to public safety and community health while offering little to residents in return. Although Northpoint developers contend that their project will bring jobs to the area, over a decade of unbounded development of warehousing in Will County has shown that these jobs, in their current form, do not offer stable work or livable wages. In January of 2021, WWJ’s 'The COVID Jungle' report found that almost all warehouse worker respondents reported making less than $20 per hour, and 56% reported making less than $15 per hour. Some of the richest companies in the world profit excessively from this industry, relying on the legal shield of subcontracted employment arrangements and third-party temp agencies to drive down industry wages, discriminate against workers, and retaliate against employees organizing for better working conditions. The industry’s unstable employment model of an increasingly-permanent “temporary” workforce disproportionately harms Black and Latinx workers who account for 85% of temp workers in Illinois factories and warehouses despite the state’s overall workforce being only 35% non-white. Furthermore, staffing agencies have been shown to perform blatant and illegal discrimination on behalf of the companies they serve, including “unlawfully [targeting] vulnerable workers based on race and ethnicity, and [creating] a segregated workplace where worker organizing is especially difficult,” according to 'Opening the Door,' a 2021 report on discrimination in industrial temp hiring. Elwood, Joliet, and Will County residents believe that our communities deserve better. Creating more low-wage warehousing jobs, coordinated through racist hiring practices, will not help draw the communities hit hardest by COVID-19 out of the recession. Until warehousing jobs offer more stable employment models and stronger organizing protections for workers, particularly those employed by temp agencies, continuing to expand this industry means relegating working-class Black and Latinx people in Will County to jobs where they are routinely underpaid, exploited, and denied their rights to a safe and dignified workplace. Labor groups like Warehouse Workers for Justice, grassroots community groups, and the entire environmental justice movement stand with the people of Elwood. We call on Governor Pritzker to be firm in his decision and prevent those with wealth and political connections from overruling the will of a municipal body that deserves to make its own decision about the future of its community. Volatile jobs and poverty wages will not help our people recover. A true recovery plan in Will County will promote justice for all, building towards environmental justice in our communities, developing robust regulations to hold temp agencies accountable, and empowering a strong labor movement to fight for good jobs for all people. Signed, Warehouse Workers for Justice Just Say No to Northpoint Sunrise Movement Chicago Food and Water Watch Grassroots Collaborative Backbone Campaign Solutionary Rail Climate Reality Project - Chicago Chapter Make the Road NYC Illinois Environmental Council Chicago Workers' Collaborative Food Chain Workers Alliance Global Labor Justice - International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILF) South Suburbs for Greenspace over Concrete Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Sunrise Movement Joliet SEIU Local 1 Neighbors for Environmental Justice UE Western Region Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice Sugar Creek Hills Homeowners Association Workers' Rights Board of Chicago Jobs with Justice Illinois Green New Deal Network Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition ACES 4 Youth Clean Power Lake County Jobs with Justice - National Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice Warehouse Worker Resource Center The People's Lobby Active Transportation Alliance Save Our Illinois Land (SOIL) Faith in Place Action Fund Respiratory Health Association Latino Union Chicago Community and Workers' Rights Partnership for Working Families Chicago Jobs Council Centro De Trabajadores Unidos
Should workers get the vaccine? Is the vaccine safe?
We understand that people haven't received a lot of information about the vaccine and have questions. We want to help workers get accurate information and have their vaccine questions answered. We’re also providing space to express concerns and talk about the vaccine with healthcare professionals. WWJ recently hosted a workshop with Elizabeth Garcia, RN, an ICU nurse who has been working with COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic. Watch the recording of the workshop here. Read a transcript of questions and answers here . WWJ staff all plan to get the vaccine as soon as it’s available to us. We’re looking forward to being protected from COVID-19 and protecting our families and friends. Who is eligible for the vaccine? As of January 25th, 2021, Illinois is entering Phase 1b of vaccine distribution. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, phase 1B will include all residents 65 and older, as well as frontline essential workers, "including but not limited to...
(Guidance document available here) Whether warehouse workers are included in the "frontline essential workers" group eligible for Phase 1B vaccination may vary by location (city of Chicago, Cook County, Will County, or other counties). We will update this page as we receive more definitive information. (Last updated 1/28/2021) Because Illinois has a limited number of vaccine doses available, essential workers who want to get the vaccine may have to wait for an appointment. Please see below for information about getting the vaccine.
Last week's release of The COVID Jungle directed some much-needed press attention to the challenges that low-wage and temp workers in Chicagoland are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out the press coverage for more:
WWJ is proud to present our latest research report, The COVID Jungle: Chicagoland's Essential Food Workers and the Need for Vaccination Priority. The report highlights workers' voices and stories about COVID-19 in their workplaces and the need to prioritize these essential workers for COVID-19 vaccine access. Read the report here.  |
