On Thursday, food production workers at El Milagro\u2014Chicago\u2019s most popular tortilla company\u2014staged a temporary walkout, alleging years of workplace violations and abusive conditions made worse by the pandemic.<\/p>\n
After leaving their shift early, nearly 100 workers picketed outside El Milagro\u2019s flagship taqueria and neighboring tortiller\u00eda in the Little Village neighborhood on Chicago\u2019s South Side, promising to escalate their protests unless management meets with them to discuss their grievances by September 29. They were joined by local faith leaders, community supporters and democratic socialist 25th Ward Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez of the nearby Pilsen neighborhood.<\/p>\n
Laura Garza, director of Arise Chicago<\/a> worker center\u2014which has been helping the non-unionized El Milagro workers organize over the past several months\u2014said that 85 workers contracted Covid-19 on the job last year, and five died. With employees getting sick or resigning, the company has been understaffed, leading to a widely reported<\/a> scarcity of El Milagro products at grocery stores across the Chicago area earlier this month, with eager customers lining up<\/a> outside the company\u2019s facilities to get their hands on however many tortillas they could. <\/p>\n Along with picket signs, the workers carried a giant burrito and tortilla chips made of carboard. They led chants changing the company\u2019s name from El Milagro to \u201cEl Maltrato,\u201d which translates to \u201cmistreatment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve heard there\u2019s a shortage of workers over and over on the news, but the fact is there isn\u2019t a so-called shortage of workers, it\u2019s a shortage of good wages, good benefits, good working conditions, and being treated with respect and dignity on the job,\u201d said Garza. The worker center also recently helped organize non-union food production employees at the popular Portillo\u2019s restaurant chain, who staged a seven-day strike<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n The workers allege that in order to keep production going amid the staffing shortage, management has been illegally forcing them to work up to seven days per week, as well as violating the city\u2019s paid sick leave ordinance<\/a>\nand speeding up the production machines to dangerous levels.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the extreme speed of the machines, people are having health issues, especially back pain from having to go so fast,\u201d El Milagro worker Alfredo Martinez told In These Times<\/em>. Martinez added that he and his coworkers have also suffered health problems from having to work quickly in temperatures over 90 degrees, without being allowed breaks to drink water.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re cranking up these machines to produce more tortillas, but we\u2019re not machines,\u201d said Martin Salas, an El Milagro employee who has worked at the company for ten years. \u201cI\u2019m packing 80 packages in one minute. If it doesn\u2019t happen, then it\u2019s my fault.\u201d<\/p>\n The workers also claim that management is advertising new job openings at $16 an hour\u2014higher than what workers who have been at the company for years make. Martinez, who has worked at El Milagro for 13 years, said veteran employees like himself are also expected to train the new hires without any extra compensation.<\/p>\n \u201cThe new people don\u2019t stay for long because it\u2019s too hard and too hot,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cWe know the work; we do the work well. It\u2019s insulting when you\u2019ve been working here for years, doing a good job and new people who have barely been trained are making more than you.\u201d<\/p>\n The workers reported numerous other abuses at El Milagro, including sexual harassment and intimidation. With the help of Arise Chicago, they have organized a committee and are demanding<\/a> that management implement a fair wage scale based on seniority and experience, increase wages to at least $20 per hour, stop all harassment and hire more staff. The workers claim that despite issuing multiple letters to management, the company has so far refused to meet with them to discuss their concerns.<\/p>\n When the employees who walked out of the El Milagro plant in Little Village attempted to return to complete their shifts after the protest rally\u2014as they had earlier informed<\/a> management they would do\u2014they were locked out<\/a>. Arise Chicago says this is illegal retaliation by the company. Upon learning that their colleagues had been locked out, five cleaning workers arriving for the late-night shift decided to join the walkout<\/a>.<\/p>\n Salas said that when he and other first-shift workers went into work on Friday morning, prepared to walk out in solidarity with their locked-out colleagues, they were greeted by an armed security guard<\/a>. \u201cThat is simply a tactic the company is using to intimidate us, and it\u2019s creating a lot of fear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n As the locked-out workers reported to human resources on Friday morning seeking to return to work, they were joined by 22nd Ward Alderman Mike Rodriguez, whose district includes the El Milagro plant, Cook County Board Commissioner Brandon Johnson and Chicago Teachers Union recording secretary Christel Williams-Hayes.<\/p>\n \u201cWe stand with you,\u201d Williams-Hayes told the workers. \u201cWhat you\u2019re doing is not wrong. Stand in solidarity, stand up for your rights, do not be afraid.<\/p>\n Management promised to allow the locked-out employees to return to work at the start of their 2 p.m. shift on Friday, with no loss of pay, according to an Arise Chicago spokesperson.<\/p>\n El Milagro did not respond to a request for comment. The company has also faced complaints at its facility near Austin, Texas, where it was recently fined $218,000<\/a> by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for unsafe machinery exposing workers to amputation dangers.<\/p>\n