Steven Cuevas
May 28, 2009
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A couple hundred warehouse workers and their supporters shut down a major intersection this afternoon in the heart of Ontario's industrial district. KPCC's Steven Cuevas says the action is part of a campaign to win higher pay and more benefits for warehouse workers across the Inland region.

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[Sound of chanting]

Steven Cuevas: Demonstrators in matching blue t-shirts fanned out at Etiwanda Avenue and Mission Boulevard, a major thoroughfare for freight moving in and out of the area. A newly established labor group called Warehouse Workers United sponsored the protest.

Daniel Medress: This intersection right here is the single most important intersection in the warehouse district. The Inland Empire is home to the largest concentration of warehouse space on the planet, over 410 million square feet.

Cuevas: Daniel Medress is one of the organizers. He says the roughly 120,000 warehouse workers in the Inland Empire make an average of 7 to 10 dollars an hour – and they deserve better.

Medress: They deserve good jobs. They deserve access to affordable health care, an end to the temporary worker system, and the right to form a union.

[Olga Romero speaking in Spanish]

Cuevas: Olga Romero makes about 8 dollars an hour at a Skechers warehouse. She claims the managers don't treat temp workers like her very well. She says she wants a living wage, benefits and, above all, respect.

[Romero speaking in Spanish]

[Sound of people yelling, chanting, and truck horns]

Cuevas: Romero watched from the sidelines as sheriff's deputies rounded up and arrested 10 protesters who'd chained themselves to a front-end loader in the middle of the intersection. Warehouse Workers United promises to organize similar actions until the companies they're targeting agree to meet with workers over their demands.