Le Bonheur team closes opening in baby’s heart
Two weeks into her life, Katelynn Davis weighed just about 2 pounds.
She was born with a heart defect common among premature babies. The defect is called patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), which for 20 percent of low-birthweight babies requires urgent treatment for them to survive.
Katelynn’s small size would normally be an obstacle to receive the operation she needed. But Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis successfully treated her this month through a new procedure it Daily $2.00
Teamsters, the union representing Memphis XPO employees, said that the decision to close the warehouse is “retaliatory” following a critical, frontpage report from The New York Times that detailed several women who suffered from miscarriages while working for XPO.
The women told the Times that they believed their miscarriages were directly related to working conditions in the warehouse, and that XPO supervisors routinely denied requests from expecting mothers who asked to be assigned to positions that handled lighter packages.
“My co-workers and I stood up and exposed the terrible conditions at the Xpo-verizon facility in Memphis, including sexual harassment, dangerous heat, pregnancy discrimination and worker abuses,” said Lakeisha Nelson, a current worker at the Xpo-verizon Memphis facility. “In return, XPO and Verizon are shutting down our facility and cutting our jobs. I will not be intimidated by these corporate bullies.”
XPO has denied the allegations, calling them “unsubstantiated.”
A documented and troubled past
The union said it first became aware of problematic allegations against XPO in 2017, after an employee,tasha Murrell, contacted the union following the death of one of her coworkers on the job.
Linda Neal, 58, died on the warehouse floor after suffering a heart attack in October 2017 while XPO employees were required to keep working, according to the union.
In April of 2018, three women from the Southeast Memphis warehouse filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission. They alleged supervisors made sexually suggestive comments, and in one supervisor’s case, unwanted physical contact.
In total, eight female XPO employees filed complaints with the commission.
Elizabeth Howley was not among the workers filing complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but she had been vocal in support of them.
Howley was fired a few weeks after the complaints were filed, a move that the union described as retaliatory.
Additional concerns listed by XPO employees centered on the physical environment of the warehouse. Memphis routinely experiences triple-degree temperatures in the summer, and the warehouse is not air-conditioned, nor does it have windows that open, according to the workers.
Employees say passing out from extreme temperatures inside the warehouse is a common occurrence.
Protection for pregnant workers in Tennessee
Tennessee state Sen. Jeff Yarbro reintroduced the Tennessee Pregnant Workers Fairness Act on Feb. 5.
The bill was first introduced in 2015, when it was mired in the House subcommittee on Consumer and Human Resources.
“No woman should have to choose between her job and what’s best for her child,” Yarbro told The Commercial Appeal. “We can’t stand by in the face of these tragedies.”
Memphis congressman responds
Congressman Steve Cohen calls the planned XPO closure “disturbing” and has said that he plans to meet with company officials in the near future to discuss the announcement.
“I am very disappointed that XPO Logistics will lay off more than 400 employees,” Cohen said in a statement. “This new layoff development is disturbing and I hope the employees affected will be treated fairly and ultimately find new jobs.”