Support the Labor & Neighbor Ordinance!
Chicago City Council
Sign this petition to tell the Chicago City Council to pass the Labor & Neighbor ordinance to protect workers and residents from bad jobs and polluted air!
The explosion of warehouse construction in Chicago hurts workers, communities, and our environment. Warehouse workers often work under highly exploitative conditions and many are employed through a system of temp agencies that prevent them from securing full-time work with benefits. More than 100,000 Chicagoans work in transportation/warehousing and wholesale trade industries. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. economy has seen a dramatic shift towards home-delivery retail, leaving cities unprepared and unequipped to deal with the unforeseen environmental and social impacts.
A single warehouse may generate hundreds of truck trips daily, releasing diesel pollution that harms our communities, especially young children, our elders, and those with existing health conditions. So-called “last mile” logistics requires corporations to move large numbers of packages in ever-smaller windows of time. That is why they build as close as possible to where people live. Warehouses are mostly built on the South and West sides of Chicago, where working class communities, especially Black and Brown communities, have to deal with the impacts of industrial activity both as workers and residents. Sign this petition to tell the Chicago City Council to pass the Labor & Neighbor ordinance to protect workers and residents from bad jobs and polluted air!
Read more about the ordinance here.
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To:
Chicago City Council
From:
[Your Name]
Chicago is in desperate need of an ordinance that addresses the concerns of workers in last-mile warehouses, and the neighborhoods those facilities are built in. A single warehouse may generate hundreds of truck trips daily, with diesel pollution causing surges in asthma, respiratory issues, cancer, premature death, and other health conditions. Working class communities, in particular working class communities of color, are dually burdened by the negative impacts of industrial activity, both as workers and residents. Take action for your city, and support the Labor & Neighbor Ordinance!
Here’s What the Labor and Neighbor Ordinance Does:
-Requires Last Mile Warehouse and E-Commerce Fulfillment Center and Heavy Distribution Warehouse employers to: directly employ drivers; provide employees with written terms and conditions of employment; offer open shifts to existing employees before hiring new staff; pay injured workers for the full shift on which they were injured; and maintain records of deliveries by non-Chicago residents. The Ordinance protects workers from retaliation for engaging in protected advocacy conduct and from electronic monitoring and quotas without proper safeguards and disclosures, and imposes fines for violations of the chapter, including for misclassification of workers, and a private right of action for enforcement
-Requires Last Mile Warehouses and E-Commerce Fulfillment Centers, to secure a special use permit through formal public hearing , hold a community meeting prior to that hearing, submit a land use report, environmental assessment, a closure plan and conduct air quality monitoring;, and a binding air quality compliance plan; requires conformity with sustainable development policies and LEED silver standards; encourages the use of community benefits agreements to mitigate negative impacts; creates setbacks from sensitive receptions (1,300 feet from residence, 2,600 from schools, parks, and health care facilities); and creates Mobile Source Standards requiring the city to publish standards for use of Zero Emissions trucks in deliveries to and and from the site.
-Requires operators of Last Mile Warehouses and E-Commerce Fulfillment Centers to secure a license to operate from the city, and requires license holders to respect labor, public safety, and environmental protection laws. This includes application requirements including a labor market study, disclosure of truck routes and vehicle types, mitigation measure plans, and disclosure of violations of any city, state or federal laws regarding employee or environmental protection. Authorizes the city to deny a license application or revoke a license where there is a pattern or practice of such violations.
-Requires Last Mile Warehouse and E-Commerce Fulfillment Center employers, as well as Heavy Distribution Warehouse employers to: provide employees with written terms and conditions of employment which require mutual assent and consideration to be changed; offer open shifts to existing employees before hiring new staff; pay injured workers for the full shift on which they were injured; and maintain records of deliveries by non-Chicago residents. The Ordinance protects workers from retaliation for engaging in protected advocacy conduct and from electronic monitoring and quotas without proper safeguards and disclosures, and imposes fines for violations of the chapter, including for misclassification of workers, and a private right of action for enforcement
Want more information? Read here!