May 3, 2018

This morning, a group of staff and members from Teamsters Local 174 and 763 gathered outside the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington Hotel in Renton, WA to make ourselves heard before the Verizon shareholder meeting was held inside the hotel. The goal of the protest was to draw Verizon executives’ attention to pervasive sexual harassment at one of their distribution warehouses in Memphis, which is operated by XPO Logistics. The Teamsters held signs and marched outside the hotel chanting “Time’s Up, Verizon!”

The prior day, Local 174 staff also helped hand out leaflets at the Verizon store in Renton, drawing attention from Verizon in the lead-up to the annual meeting of shareholders. The Teamsters turned out to stand in solidarity with Memphis warehouse workers Lakeisha Nelson and Tasha Murrell, who flew to Seattle to attend the Verizon shareholder meeting and tell their shocking stories of harassment and abuse. The stories include groping, grabbing, and endless sexual comments from supervisors.

“The Teamsters are adamantly opposed to sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace, and we will always stand up and fight against it,” said Teamsters Joint Council 28 President Rick Hicks. “These Memphis warehouse employees have been treated deplorably, and we are proud to stand in solidarity with them to tell Verizon that ‘Time’s Up’ – they need to take action to stop sexual harassment in their supply chain.”

In response to the action, Verizon has begun an investigation into the complaints, the outcome of which will determine whether or not they continue their contract with XPO Logistics to operate the Memphis warehouse.

More information in USA Today article here, and on International Brotherhood of Teamsters website here.