The Omni Retailer Warehouse Workers Conditions Round-Up

Three articles by human rights journalist Mac McClelland for Mother Jones. In the first, she observed a warehouse in Ohio that contracts shipping and handling for an internet omni-retailer. Next, an essay from last Christmas season about the conditions of the workers behind internet shopping. Then in her third article, she worked as a "picker" in a similar factory. She faced physically grueling labor at a meager, though legal wage, with inflexible time management demands and impossible goal targets. She packed a (possibly un-)surprising amount of dildos.

http://www.motherjones.com/rights-stuff/2011/07/ohio-warehouse-temps-unemployment

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/12/slave-elves-online-shipping

http://www.motherjones.com/print/161491

Many of these omni-retailers such as Amazon or Walmart Online contract a third party logistics company to staff and manage the shipping and handling aspect of online shopping. These logistics companies hire on a temp basis, where reaching full hire is a Sisyphean task. Companies can afford to fire temp employees easily and frequently, without even requiring to give a reason, because of the overabundance of unemployed people who are willing to step into the role of exploited worker.

Lehigh Valley, PA's newspaper The Morning Call investigated conditions in Amazon's warehouse, where employees frequently faint in 100 degree heat and are called to mandatory overtime regularly.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-allentown-amazon-complaints-20110917,0,7937001,full.story 

Huffington Post wrote about warehouses in the Midwest, and how temporary work perpetuates poverty and job instability.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/new-blue-collar-temp-warehouses_n_1158490.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

This holiday season, as many of us begin navigating the frenzied waters of sales and markdowns in the name of gift giving, keep in mind the workers you affect from start to finish in your purchases. I'd like to admonish to shop small, local, or independent whenever you can, but I understand the economic privilege that comes from. When you can buy a novel for full sticker price at an independent bookstore, or get a 42% discount and free shipping from an online omni-retailer, I see and feel the financial pressure to be as thrifty as possible. At all times, remember to be an ally and support of workers who are underpaid and overworked and treated as inhuman cogs in the capitalist machine, both in America and around the world.

The Wal-Mart Black Friday strike is just one effort to bring more attention to workers' rights.

http://prospect.org/article/wal-mart-always-low-wages 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/22/walmart-strike-dallas_n_2175697.html
http://www.thenation.com/blog/171425/black-friday-strike-will-test-power-high-stakes-online-organizing
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/11/201211227838361804.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/20/walmart-unrest-black-friday-strike
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/wal-marts-looming-black-friday-strike-could-make-for-an-unexpectedly-painful-holiday-season/2012/11/19/70d5eba4-3209-11e2-92f0-496af208bf23_story.html