Warehouse Drivers Speak About Intimidation Tactics

Skechers warehouse in Moreno Valley follows the trend of “effective” warehouse management by outsourcing transportation to sub-contracting companies.  They use Green Fleet Systems which hauls truckloads out of Skechers warehouse daily.  Skechers claims no responsibility for any of the practices of Green Fleet.  Green Fleet has been cited by CAL/OSHA which enforces health and safety in the workplace.  It is best to keep our eyes “wide open” to the quality and integrity of these jobs and the “road to the middle class” as some have promised.  

Below is an excerpt from a Teamsters website that details the practices of these companies and how they retaliate against anyone who speaks up.  Following the testimony is a link to the full article.

“I was a driver for Green Fleet Systems hauling Skechers Shoes and other cargo from 2008 until I was fired in January this year,” said Mateo Mares, unlawfully fired Green Fleet driver. “When I began work at Green Fleet, the company misclassified me as an independent contractor. A few years ago, I heard about the Teamsters organizing campaign.  I started talking to the Teamsters and to other drivers about working conditions, and I learned that I was in fact an employee and that, by misclassifying me as an independent contractor, Green Fleet was making unlawful deductions from my paycheck and denying me many benefits, including the right to organize.  I began assisting the Teamsters organizing efforts, talking to other drivers about the benefits of unionization, and taking part in various campaign activities, such as wearing a union vest and participating in two unfair labor practice strikes. Green Fleet’s owner, Gary Mooney, and others interrogated me about my union activities and threatened to sue me. I organized a group of Green Fleet drivers to go to the California Department of Labor’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to file wage claims. After Green Fleet learned that we filed wage claims, owner Gary Mooney told my co-worker Amilcar Cardona and me that we couldn’t continue to work at Green Fleet unless we dropped our wage claims. When we refused to drop our wage claims, Mooney fired Amilcar and me.”

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://teamster.org/news/2014/06/teamsters-nlrb-complaint-issued-against-green-fleet-systems