Bailouts Pressure Workers

Recently at a non-union Fruit warehouse the boss has tighten up the safety procedures at their job site. As oppose to 10 months ago, when the country had not undergone an economic meltdown. It makes sense that jobs should have safety procedures such as wearing hair nets, waistbands to lift boxes and proper uniforms to work in. It is good for the worker to have some kind of safety code to better their work conditions. However, now that the codes are implemented, workers must make sure they don't forget any of these items, including their ID badge, because they will be penalized.

Lourdes, a worker at the warehouse, says that when workers go in, the supervisors check the workers to make sure they have their necessary gear to work in. Every time that a worker does not bring a piece of equipment they are issued a warning and told to go back home and pick it up. The most warnings that a worker can get is 5. Each warning entails something different. from written warning to being suspended and potentailly being fired.

This places more pressure on workers. The fact of the matter is, if workers don't bring in their gear, they get closer to being fired. This is an excuse that the bosses have come up with. It says that workers are to be blamed if they are fired. This is an insult to workers because the bosses exploit that issue to their advantage in an economic downturn. And of course, when workers are under more pressure to perform they tend to forget things because they are worried for their jobs. When someone is fired they are being pointed at. The truth is that the bosses should be blamed for, for implementing such harsh consequences for not following safety codes and for undermining workers ability to work. Safety codes are placed at workplaces to secure the safety of workers, not threaten their employment.

Workers must unite to fight for a Union at their job site in order to combate this kind of harrassment.