Angela McDonald works the night shift loading boxes of cough drops, gummy fish and other sweets at a warehouse for Kraft/Cadbury products in Joliet. She enjoys the work and likes doing overtime of up to 70 hours a week – her coworkers joke she must have a bed in the facility because she seems to always be there.
But since last fall, McDonald said, she has felt unwelcome and threatened at work because of swastikas and the letters KKK written on walls and on the coffee machine in the break room– and the fact that a male employee on the day shift flies a Confederate flag from his truck.
She and other African-American and Latino workers said they have complained repeatedly to supervisors about the swastikas and the flag. They said nothing has been done, and supervisors have declined to bring the issue up at employee meetings. McDonald, 44, who is black, said she feels unsafe leaving work in the early-morning darkness knowing she may cross paths in the parking lot with the man with the flag.
Thursday McDonald and nine other workers filed discrimination charges at the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission office downtown. The charges allege that the swastikas and Confederate flag, racist comments from employees and supervisors’ failure to address the issue create a discriminatory and hostile environment. Two women also allege sexual harassment by a supervisor, and that their complaints about him have been ignored. One other woman alleges age discrimination, saying she was passed over for jobs given to less-qualified, younger people.
The EEOC filing names DB Schenker, an international company that oversees the Kraft/Cadbury warehouse, and Prologistix, a national staffing firm that hires the workers. The employees filing the charges are affiliated with Warehouse Workers for Justice, an advocacy group that pushes for reforms in the warehousing, or logistics, industry. About 150,000 people in Chicago and the southwest suburbs work in that field.
DB Schenker and Prologistix did not return calls seeking comment.
Warehouse workers and organizers said that discrimination based on race, gender and age is a common problem.
“This kind of discrimination is fairly extreme, given these are actual hate symbols,” said Mark Meinster, an organizer for the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America, which launched the Warehouse Workers for Justice campaign. “But it is representative of what we’ve seen more broadly in the industry.”
McDonald, who has worked at the warehouse for three years, said she has faced retaliation since complaining about the swastikas and flag. She has been repeatedly denied requests to work overtime, she said.
Willie Jones, who worked at a Wal-Mart warehouse for a year before being laid off in January, said white employees there frequently used racial slurs, including calling African-Americans “monkeys.” He said workers frequently complained to managers, but they have seen no sign that any action was taken.
He and other employees of the Wal-Mart warehouse are hired and supervised through the staffing agency SIMOS Insourcing Solutions. SIMOS did not respond to a request for comment. Wal-Mart spokesman Greg Rossiter said the companies operating and staffing the facility would be responsible for dealing with such situations.
Workers at the Wal-Mart warehouse said they also had seen swastikas on bathroom walls and doors, which were not removed after workers complained. “But if it was a drawing of a big black panther or a raised fist, it would be a different story,” said Robert Hine, who formerly worked at the Wal-Mart warehouse.
In 2009, Warehouse Workers for Justice helped a worker file a lawsuit alleging that Prologistix exhibited racial bias in its criminal background checks.
The EEOC will decide whether to investigate the charges filed Thursday. If the agency declines, the workers can sue for discrimination. Under the Civil Rights Act, people alleging workplace discrimination must go to the EEOC before filing a lawsuit. Attorney Chris Williams said they are committed to pursuing every legal avenue.
“It’s crazy that people still do these things,” said Mary Wright, a former employee at the Kraft/Cadbury warehouse. “That’s like from the days of slavery. They can’t let that just happen without doing something about it.”