(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Workers for a major Chicago tortilla manufacturer are claiming a series of labor victories.
Workers at El Milagro tortilla factories are not unionized, but they are organized and have the help of ARISE Chicago.
They say that, since last summer, the total amount of raises they’ve received has added up to $1.3 million. Also, they say, they were able to stop being scheduled seven-day work weeks, have had air conditioning added to lunch rooms, and the company is paying for tools instead of requiring workers to purchase and bring their own.
But one worker who identified himself as Alfredo said there are still issues to be resolved.
“There’s still some pending issues, particularly because workers want to be with their families on Sundays, and so that is something that the workers are still requesting to have a day off,” he said through a translator, Laura Garza of ARISE Chicago.
Only those with a lot of seniority are able to get Sundays off, he said.
Alfredo says El Milagro still speeds up its machines causing pain to workers’ backs and hands. Management will not sit down to negotiate with his workers’ committee, he said.
Garza, the Worker Center director for ARISE Chicago, said a complaint was filed last fall with the city of Chicago because third-shifters are regularly sent home early from work and that that’s costing them work hours and pay.
WBBM Newsradio has reached out to El Milagro for comment.
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