Walmart taking over operations at Inland distribution centers, transferring Schneider employees - Press-Enterprise

Walmart will take over operations of a large Inland warehouse operated by a third party that sorted and shipped goods for the retailer for 13 years, a company spokesperson said Tuesday, Feb. 5, shifting hundreds of workers to a new boss.

Walmart has been in a contract with Schneider Logistics, a third-party distribution company, to run its distribution facility in Eastvale. The mass-market retailer will begin operating the facility April 6. The company also will insource Schneider employees at a Fontana facility.

Recent postings on California’s WARN Act site, which lists pending job terminations, states Schneider Logistics would terminate 461 workers in Eastvale and 51 in Fontana. Companies are required to notify the state when they cut a significant percentage workers, but these postings also involve employment changes caused by ownership or management shifts.

Walmart spokesperson Michelle Malashock said the company plans to retain “as many people as possible” who are currently employed by Schneider, and it plans to add more, possibly bringing the total of employees to 500 in Eastvale. Workers will be offered Walmart benefits without the standard 90-day waiting period, she said.

Also, workers would receive a higher starting wage, paid time off, discount cards for retail locations and other benefits, she said. She declined to offer specifics about the facility’s wage scale.

Green Bay, Wisc.,-based Schneider Logistics and three temporary agencies that helped it recruit workers fell under legal scrutiny earlier in this decade when actions were brought claiming they violated numerous wage-and-hour laws in Eastvale. Ultimately, in 2013, workers won a $4.7 million settlement of a federal class-action lawsuit.

A separate legal filing with the California Department of Industrial Relations led to additional fines.

Walmart was added to the list of defendants in the federal case, although the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer did not participate in the day-to-day management of the warehouse.

Malashock said Schneider’s past problems did not enter into Walmart’s decision to take over management.

“We’re going through our operations overall and making changes that make sense,” Malashock said. “I don’t think this has anything to do with Schneider; it’s part of an overall strategy.”

Malashock added that Walmart has already taken over operations of two other distribution facilities in other regions that had been run by third parties.

The state and federal legal actions against Schneider Logistics were instigated in part by Warehouse Workers United, an advocacy group that has since disbanded. The advocates still maintain the Warehouse Workers Resource Center, which has an office in Ontario.

Sheheryar Kaoosji, co-executive director of the resource center, said his organization has been informed verbally of Walmart’s plans to operate the Eastvale warehouse, but he has not seen any written confirmation.

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