Have you ever wondered how the stuff you and I buy online arrives so incredibly fast?
Here’s the real deal on online shipping – the whole system is built on unsafe, low-paying, temporary jobs. Workers in the U.S. shipping centers and warehouses that fulfill online orders for major retailers like Amazon and Walmart are subject to dangerous conditions and shamefully low wages. Temperatures in warehouses can soar up to 120 degrees, making them literal sweatshops. These workers are consistently asked to work at unreasonable and backbreaking speeds, and they endure the pain because they’re afraid of losing their jobs.
Explains former Walmart warehouse worker Uylonda Dickerson: “By the end of the day, your body hurts so bad. “You tell them you can’t do it the next day… they’ll tell you, ‘We’ve got four more people waiting for your job.’”
That’s why this Cyber Monday – Nov. 26 – the biggest online shopping day of the year, Jobs with Justice and American Rights at Work are launching a major campaign in protest. Join us by standing up for safe, sustainable jobs and pledge not to buy anything online from major retailers that day.
You can learn more about the serious labor problems in online shipping here. The more of us that take a stand with our pocketbooks by protesting Cyber Monday, the greater our impact in waking up the media, our friends, and big retailers that brutal warehouse jobs are unacceptable to American consumers.
