Catherwood LibraryILR School

Warehouse Workers Stand Up - a coalition of local labor, community and advocacy groups - is calling for greater worker protections in New Jersey after an incident last week at an Amazon warehouse that sickened workers. New Jersey is one of the fastest growing regional distribution centers in the nation, due to strong e-commerce growth which is increasing new warehouse development near the New Jersey Turnpike and the Port of New York and Jersey, the hustling apex maritime gateway on the East Coast. Storage and warehousing companies have hired an additional 50,000 workers in the past year, with an additional 6,200 jobs in November due to the holiday season. Due to increasing pressure to meet retail volumes, often via same-day or overnight shipping, the coalition reported that warehouse jobs lack appropriate compensation for jobs that are often unsafe and demanding. The Laundry Distribution and Food Service Joint Board of Workers United union, which supports warehouse workers, said in a meeting earlier this week that employees have to meet "unrealistic production quotas" and that permanent jobs were being replaced with part-time jobs, seasonal jobs, or temporary jobs.