The report, ‘Women’s Wellbeing At XPO’, looks at the treatment of women workers at the XPO Logistics Alovera II warehouse in Guadalajara that handles a contract for Amazon. The report can be downloaded from here.
Included in the report is evidence that women are paid less, they are not given the promotion opportunities of men and their skills and experience are ignored.
One worker said: “When we have a case of a woman who becomes pregnant and is a temporary worker she tries to speak as late as possible to the company because she’s sure her contract is not going to be renewed – and the reason will be the pregnancy.”
The report also found:
- Pressure on workers not to take leave for personal and family matters.
- Occupational gender segregation.
- A toxic environment for women’s psychological wellbeing.
Another worker spoke about the devastating effect the culture of the warehouse has on them: “I've had a bad time with it; the truth is that I've cried buckets. But now, well, in the end, it's a job, I try to avoid feeling like that, but it is true that it affects you. You know this happens because someone has decided they don't like you, not because you're worthless."
Valerie Latron, from the ITF women’s committee, commented: “This report shows a shocking record of discrimination at XPO. The company is paying women less than men for doing the same job. Women are hiding pregnancies because they fear dismissal. XPO is undermining women’s wellbeing, their finances, their rights and their dignity.
“This is on top of the problems we already know about at XPO in the USA, France and Belgium. XPO’s behaviour is unacceptable and makes a mockery of its claim to be a fair employer via the UN Global Compact. All of this is a symptom of a toxic, anti-union policy at the company. XPO management needs to sit down with the ITF and its affiliates to fix this, and we can begin to make it a company that respects its workers.”
END
For more information and for interviews with workers and union activists contact:
Andy Khan-Gordon, International Transport Workers’ Federation
khan-gordon_andy@itf.org.uk
+44 (0)7711 356 964
Background
XPO Logistics Europe employees 52,000 people, with a total revenue of EUR5.7bn.
The Guardian has reported on the multiple accusations of sexual harassment faced by XPO in the USA: https://goo.gl/Ky55hD
American media has reported on the accusations of sexual harassment and dangerous working conditions at XPO. For example, see this television report: https://goo.gl/v7Hvjx
Information on the ITF’s XPO global leadership group: https://goo.gl/tePRXG
Information on the Teamsters XPO campaign in the USA: https://goo.gl/26HK8o
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) creates borderless solidarity among transport workers in every corner of the globe. We support 670 affiliate trade unions in 140 countries, representing 19.7 million workers.
