Workers Locked Inside of Target Stores Overnight

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/172426/workers-locked-inside-target-stores-overnight

In OSHA charges filed last week, twenty-five workers allege that they were regularly locked indoors while cleaning Target stores in the Twin Cities.

“At 11 at night, I would ring the doorbell to get let in, and then from there, we would be locked in the store all night, until 7 am when they opened the store,” said Honorio Hernandez, who cleaned Target stores for three years before leaving a year ago for other work. “I was scared that something would happen, and I wouldn’t be able to get out of the store…. But I never complained about it because I was scared that I would lose my job.” (Hernandez was interviewed in Spanish.)

Hernandez has worked for all three of the janitorial contractors named in the OSHA complaints: Carlson Building Maintenance, Prestige Maintenance USA and Diversified Maintenance Systems. Currently unemployed, Hernandez is an activist with the Minnesota labor group that organized the complaints, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha.

Reached by e-mail Wednesday, Target spokesperson Molly Snyder said the company has not been informed of an OSHA complaint. “At Target,” said Snyder, “we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical business practices and we expect our vendors to do the same.” She added, “We take allegations of inappropriate working conditions seriously and complete a thorough external audit of every housekeeping vendor on an annual basis.”

[Javaman]

1. Sounds like target is taking notes from walmart. nt

[IDemo]

2. I've been aware of this for years

My SO worked on the "flow team", which unloads the trucks and stocks the shelves in the early morning hours. This has to violate a fire code, if nothing else.

[2pooped2pop]

3. yep, they are doing it for theft protection

but they will need to put in more cameras because you cannot have a situation where there is no way out.

[geomon666]

4. I guess nobody has learned the lessons from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Or the one in Bangladesh just last year that killed over 100 people.

[MichiganVote]

5. This is what happens when unions decline.

[Omaha Steve]

6. Our son used to have it happen to him when he worked at Shop

He was a night janitor too. They were told the alarm was set. If a door opened they would be fired.