Warehouse Workers United is a Change to Win campaign aimed at the economic crisis in the logistics industry. I visited the web site and learned there was a study performed earlier this year conducted by two people from the University of California: Edna Bonacich, Professor Emeritus in Sociology and Ethnic Studies, and Juan David De Lara, PhD candidate in Geography.

Here is what they revealed:

• Riverside and San Bernadino counties lead the nation’s largest metropolitan areas in unemployment.
   
• The California Budget Project has estimated that this area’s workers require an hourly wage of $17.48 to meet basic family needs.
   
• Only three percent of workers in blue collar warehouse occupations earn a basic family wage.
  
• Forty-one percent of blue collar warehouse occupations pay less than $10.50 per hour.

The study points out that this area’s rapid growth and development was spurred by low unemployment rates and easily accessible mortgages; this seemingly widespread prosperity hid the weaknesses of a regional economy whose growth sectors largely depended on low-wage labor.

The authors say that preliminary analysis reveals that unionized warehouse workers earn higher wages that their non-union counterparts; union workers with 2 years on the job average up to $9,568 more per year.

To get involved and show your solidarity with this important campaign, please visit WareHouseWorkersUnited.org.

For additional important reading on this read: 
Depression in California's Inland Empire Shows Need for Employee Free Choice Act.
Inland Empire: Warehouse Workers Organize in California.