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Teamsters and workers urge state limits on secret quotas and protections for warehouse employees
Summary
Teamsters Local 25 and warehouse workers testified in favor of bills (H.2103/S.1307) to require employers to disclose speed‑tracking quota data and to bar discipline tied to opaque performance algorithms; workers also pressed for protections from extreme temperatures in warehouses.
Boston — Warehouse employees, union representatives and worker organizers told the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development on June 18 that modern warehouse monitoring and secret quotas create unsafe conditions and that legislation is needed to protect workers.
Thomas Maury, president of Teamsters Local 25, urged support of H.2103/S.1307, legislation supporters said would let employees obtain individual and facility aggregate speed‑tracking data, protect workers from retaliation for requesting that data, and create a private right of action to enforce compliance. Maury cited government and investigative reports showing elevated injury rates in certain large warehouses.
Maury also described extreme heat and cold hazards and asked the committee to advance H.3995/S.1355 — a companion bill supporters said would require employers to implement plans for extreme temperatures, guarantee paid rest breaks, access to shade and drinking water, and provide training and personal protective equipment.
Warehouse workers described working in trailers and facilities that reach extreme internal temperatures, limited access to water, and quotas that pressure workers to skip breaks. “These trailers get to roughly 120 degrees plus,” Sal Valente, a UPS worker and Teamsters shop steward, told the committee. Another worker described a facility with no insulation and a black tar roof where internal temperatures approached 120 degrees.
Supporters pointed to other states that have adopted related protections; testimony referenced laws in California, Minnesota, Washington and recent activity in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Maury cited a California enforcement action fining a company for tens of thousands of quota violations as an example of enforcement in other jurisdictions.
Opponents were not prominent on the warehouse quota session, though business groups appearing elsewhere cautioned against what they called prescriptive mandates for small employers on temperature standards. The National Federation of Independent Business, for example, argued that a temperature bill could impose detailed requirements that are difficult for small employers to implement.
Ending: Witnesses urged the committee to report H.2103/S.1307 and H.3995/S.1355 favorably; no committee votes were taken during the hearing.
