Federal warehouse worker protection bill introduced

State lawmakers still pushing separate effort

Warehouse workers nationwide would no longer have to meet speed quotas and employers would have to establish national ergonomic standards, according to legislation introduced by Congressional lawmakers last week. The Warehouse Worker Protection Act, introduced last week by Senators Ed J. Markey (D-Mass), Tina Smith (D-Minn) and Bob Casey (D-Pa), immediately received the support of several national unions.

“The Warehouse Worker Protection Act is about dignity, safety, and respect for the workers that make companies run,” Markey said in a statement. “When corporations repeatedly use and abuse warehouse workers, they show us that their number one obligation is to their profits. This bill would guarantee that we have basic standards in place to protect warehouse workers from the worst of corporate greed and move us one step further towards true worker justice.”