Alfred Miranto on Unsafe Work Conditions and Discrimination
“As a military veteran with a hearing disability, I was weary of being in a company with so many lawsuits, and a history of bad business-practices and poor leadership. I, however gave it l5 months of my life as a grocery warehouseman, frequently hurting myself because I was required to move more than the 50 pound weight-limit, as specified in my job description. When moving pallets of bottled water by myself which weighed over 700 pounds, I frequently had to take ibuprofen just to get out of bed because weight belts were never available nor was another employee there to help. Items requiring “team lifts” of over 200-300 pounds were commonly done by only two people.
“I saw 6 managers in the last year, each with a distinct lack of experience and training, who didn’t understand or even know what my job duties were. They would make me perform duties that were not in job description. The final insult was when the last “manager,” who had never been on the work floor at all, (who had a business degree and marketing experience) was given the “manager” title without any experience, because of her relationship with the store manager. She placed us in danger each day with safety violations, poor scheduling, and purely stupid decisions. Unfortunately, she was given the task to “set me up,” in order to terminate me, and she did that today: Nov l7,2008. On my last day she even violated Federal law by not allowing me to take lunch (I worked straight through 8 hours) because she wanted tasks done and I would not have time to do so. I welcome the next 80 weeks of unemployment and strive to support Wal-Mart Watch with my experiences and hopefully the Civil Liberties Union, Americans with Disabilities Act and OSHA will check out the most recent firing of a decorated military veteran who was “railroaded”.”
