Capital Returns/Genco Pharmaceuticals: a breeding ground for urban poverty
Capital Returns is a pharmaceutical recycling plant on the northwest side of Milwaukee that hires W-2 Welfare to Work primarily African American Women. The plant, which received a 250 thousand dollar economic grant from the city for the employment of people in poverty, took the money that the city gave them and hired an impoverished workforce who was easily exploitable.
Since then, workers at the plant have been exposed to some of the most volatile pharmaceuticals on the market. Many pregnant women handle birth control pills on a regular basis without adequate protection to their bodies. One worker reported that while she unpacked and inventoried drugs, she found a rare drug had derivates of mustard gas. Apparently, the drug when handled by doctors and pharmacists it is considered to be very dangerous.
There have been reports of fires in the plant and workers have not been evacuated, workers are routinely searched before going to the bathroom and when workers have spoken up and said they wished to form a union, they were intimidated and threatened by the company.
Despite the resistance the workers organized and signed enough union cards to bring things down to an election, however since then the company has been up to its old tricks trying to scare and intimidate the workers away from voting %u2018yes%u2019 for the union.
The company has since then held captive audience meetings a few times a week to persuade workers against the union. Union representation at Capital Returns would give the workers a voice at work and a collective voice to bargain for better wages, healthcare, safety issues at the plant.
We the undersigned are petitioning you to take a look and discuss the way that GENCO Pharmaceuticals/ Capital Returns is treating their workers.
We as a concerned body of citizens are worried about the workers at GENCO. Day in and day out, workers at GENCO, many of which come from low wage Welfare to Work training sites are exposed to all sorts of potential harmful and dangerous drugs without adequate health and safety protections. As a result, the amount of people who have gotten sick at the plant is much higher than usual. Their have been reports of seizures, poor ventilation, lack of access to material safety data sheets along with many other safety and health concerns.
The workers have spoken out and discussed their need to organize a union. Since then GENCO has ran a strong anti-union campaign that has left many of the workers fearing for their jobs. In an economy where mothers are living paycheck to paycheck and losing their jobs could mean homelessness, many workers are scared.
We as a concerned body of citizens don't understand how a pharmaceutical company, whose primary concern is to alleviate and improve the health and quality of people's lives can put their very own workers in harms way.
For more information as to what%u2019s going on at the company, please check out testimonials from the workers available at: www.youtube.com/workerjust
We petition you to discuss this matter with GENCO Pharmaceuticals/ Capital Returns so that workers rights and adequate safety and health protections are restored at the company.
