Fighting for a fired worker
By
MEMBERS OF Warehouse Workers United (WWU), along with students, allies and local clergy, gathered in front of a major Wal-Mart distribution center in Southern California to protest against the recent termination of fellow worker activist Javier Rodriguez.
The Wal-Mart warehouse is operated by a contractor, NFI Industries, which gave no explanation for the termination. What is known is that Rodriguez is an active member of WWU and an acute observer of working conditions. Activists see management's actions as an attempt to break workers' developing organization by getting rid of the best-known advocates.
Last fall, Javier among the workers who went on strike at the warehouse, demanding safe working conditions and payment of back wages. The strikers went on a six-day, 50-mile march to deliver letters of protest. They returned to work after a promise--though a vague one--from Wal-Mart to review conditions at its contractors, and after a state agency said it would investigate dangerous working conditions, including temperatures rising above 120 degrees in the summer, according to workers.
"Javier was instrumental in improving conditions," said one organizer with WWU. "Javier has been responsible for reporting health and safety violations to management. And now he has been unjustly fired." Rodriguez was at the protest, and thanked supporters, especially those who do not personally know him.
Management has chosen to remain silent in response to protest of Rodriguez's firing. When activists and clergy went to NFI officers to deliver an unfair labor charge filed over the firing, the manager responsible for Rodriguez's termination hid.
Activists have also organized an online petition for Rodriguez's supporters to sign. The petitions will be delivered to Wal-Mart executives at a rally planned for this week.
At the rally, a speaker said, "We are going to keep coming back until we get Javier's job back." Protestors chanted, "We'll be back!" as the protest ended.
It's clear that Wal-Mart cares more about suppressing worker activism then it does about safe working conditions or holding subcontractors accountable. That's because improving working conditions defeats the point of moving production to places like India, where labor and safety laws are not strict. The only way Wal-Mart will ever care about these issues is if workers force them to--but with struggle and solidarity, anything is possible.
