James Hoffa, Teamsters union target XPO Logistic's Memphis facility, worker complaints

Teamsters chief James P. Hoffa pledged Tuesday to back Memphis warehouse workers who complained about working conditions and their company’s response to an on-the-job death.

Hoffa told a union rally at LaRose Elementary that the Teamsters is determined to organize XPO Logistics, a global firm that operates facilities in southeast Memphis’s distribution hub.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters general president and son of the late union leader Jimmy Hoffa was in Memphis to attend a commemoration of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King was in Memphis to advocate for striking sanitation workers.

Hoffa decried “horrible” conditions and treatment alleged by current and former female employees at an XPO logistics center near Holmes and Malone.

“We’re standing with them,” Hoffa said. “There’s only one hope, the union, the Teamsters union. Hope is on the way. The Teamsters are on the way. We will be here for you…we will organize XPO,” Hoffa said.

The union is in the early stages of trying to organize workers at the XPO Memphis facility and has tangled with XPO elsewhere in the U.S. in recent years.

The rally coincided with the filing of sexual harassment allegations with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of three women who formerly worked at the warehouse.

The complaints said the women were sexually harassed by supervisors, and that XPO management failed to adequately protect the employees.

XPO didn't respond to requests for comment.

Three XPO employees and a former employee spoke at the rally. They complained about long workdays and lack of control over fluctuating hours, shifts and work weeks.

They also spoke of the death of Linda Jo Neal, 58, an XPO worker who collapsed on the job last Oct. 17.

A Shelby County Medical Examiner’s report concluded Neal died of a heart attack caused by cardiovascular disease.

Lakeisha Nelson, 45, recalled Oct. 17 as a “horrible day.” She said co-workers who wanted to help Neal “were threatened by management of termination if they touched her or tried to render aid to her.”

Neal's son, Dean Turner, said he appreciated the workers having the courage "to tell the truth about the situation."

Nelson said she supports the Teamsters’ organizing effort. “We’re trying to accomplish fair treatment, humanity in this building, (a) safe and healthy workplace. We should enjoy getting up and going to work. We shouldn’t be…treated like cattle.”

“We’re not livestock, we’re human,’” Nelson said. “Martin Luther King said, ‘I am a man.’ And I stand here and stand before you today and say, I am human. Treat me as such, give me that respect.”

James Curbeam, a Nashville-based Teamsters organizer who led the rally, said, “XPO is a worldwide company that has declared war on workers, and the Teamsters union has stepped in and said, ‘No more.’”

The workers also drew support from the Tennessee NAACP.

“We stand with you,” said Gloria Sweet-Love of Brownsville, the NAACP’s Tennessee state conference president. “Whatever you need us to help you do, we’re ready to put our feet in the street,” Sweet-Love said.

Reach reporter Wayne Risher at (901) 529-2874 or wayne.risher@commercialappeal.com.